A Vancouver man is facing more than a dozen charges, including human trafficking and child pornography, for allegedly kidnapping and holding a teenage girl.
Surrey RCMP said Thursday they arrested 19-year-old Raimon Geday on April 9, just over three months after launching an investigation into the 16-year-old girl’s disappearance.
RCMP said their investigation into the missing girl, which began on Jan. 6, was broadened after they discovered the girl was allegedly being held in Vancouver.
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The Serious Crime Unit later recovered the girl safely with assistance from Vancouver police. RCMP said Geday was not present when the girl was rescued.
An arrest warrant was issued for Geday on April 5, and he was arrested four days later in Vancouver.
Geday now faces two charges of unlawfully recruiting, transporting, harbouring and exploiting an individual under the age of 18; one count of unlawfully receiving financial benefit obtained by the commission of an offence; and one count of knowingly advertising an offer to provide sexual services.
He’s also been charged with one count each of producing and possessing child pornography, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, and six firearm possession offences.
A publication ban is in place to protect the identity of the victim, but police say she is safe from harm.
“Ensuring vulnerable victims are protected from those who seek to exploit them is of the utmost importance to police,” Surrey RCMP Investigative Services Superintendent Elija Rain said in a statement.
Geday is due to make his next court appearance in Vancouver on April 29.