Human trafficking operation victimized woman in Mississauga and Toronto: police

A Mississauga man faces a rash of charges after police uncovered an alleged human trafficking operation they believe victimized a woman over a period of time.

Toronto Police said on Thursday that investigators with their human trafficking squad arrested a suspect on Wednesday after executing a search warrant at an address in Mississauga.

Police said they launched their investigation in June, conducting the probe in both Toronto and Mississauga, and soon determined that a 32-year-old woman was trafficked “through a combination of deception, coercion and control.”

According to investigators, the victim “was forced to take sexualized pictures which were used to distribute online.”

Money earned by the woman was then “surrendered” to a man, police said in a news release on Thursday.

Elijah Benjamin, 36, of Mississauga, is charged with:

• Assault
• Theft Over $5,000
• Procuring
• Advertising Another Person’s Sexual Services
• Trafficking in Persons Over 18
• Uttering Threats Cause Death
• Financial/Material Benefit/Trafficking Persons Over 18
• Material Benefit from Sexual Services

He was scheduled to appear in Toronto court on Wednesday.

Elijah Benjamin, 36, of Mississauga. (Photo: Toronto Police)

Police believe there may be more victims and they’re urging them to contact investigators. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 416-808-4838 or email  [email protected].

“We want to ensure everyone (who has been victimized) has access to support services and an exit strategy, regardless of their decision to proceed criminally,” police said.

Human trafficking is committed by any person “who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation, for a sexual purpose or a forced labour purpose,” police said, adding victims can be men, women or children.