The “boss” of a large “excessively lucrative” pan-Canadian prostitution network was sentenced to 39 months in prison on Friday. Verdieu Jr Registry, who has put hundreds of thousands of dollars in his pockets, has been hiding for months in the Dominican Republic under a false identity to flee justice.
Posted at 4:08 p.m.
The 33-year-old man, nicknamed Lucifer or Luccy, pleaded guilty at the Montreal courthouse to a charge of receiving a material benefit from the provision of sexual services between 2016 and 2021 in Montreal. Indeed, even during his time in the Caribbean, Verdieu Jr Registry continued to manage the affairs of his network. He had managed to obtain a passport under a false identity to leave Quebec.
No less than 26 women prostituted themselves in this network deployed in Western Canada, Ontario and New York State. Verdieu Jr Registry, the “boss”, was assisted by at least six accomplices, called ” bookers “. They were responsible for managing appointments and the prices of services.
“He acts as a boss, and his booker accomplices would refer to him for decision-making regarding the management of prostitution. It determines, for example, the places of prostitution, the tariffs […], Work schedule. The accomplices regularly give him accounts of the amounts of money,” the summary of the facts states.
Sex workers handed over part or all of their earnings from prostitution to Verdieu Jr Registry.
The Quebecer was visibly rolling in gold. Bank transfers of tens of thousands of dollars were found. The police also seized $230,000 in cash from the wardrobe of the accused’s parents in Saint-Hubert, in addition to seizing the equivalent of $110,000 in jewelry (570 grams of gold) . The Attorney General of Quebec is now trying to seize his parents’ house.
PHOTO THE PRESS
Bundles of money seized during the arrest of Verdieu Jr Register
Private file
It was the Migration investigation, led by the Integrated Team for the Fight against Pimping, of which the Montreal Police Service is a part, which made it possible to arrest the accused and his accomplices.
The particularity of this case lies in the apparently voluntary participation of sex workers. “This is a case where there is no evidence of violence or coercion. They are women, according to them, who were in a business relationship. The majority refused to cooperate and come to testify,” explained Crown Prosecutor M.and Amelie Rivard.
“It was their job. It was not a recruiting ring,” added defense attorney M.and David Petranic.
In presenting the joint suggestion, Mrand Rivard insisted on the “excessively lucrative nature” of the accused’s crime on the large sums seized. The prosecutor, however, argued that the admission of guilt of the accused made it possible to avoid a complex four-month trial.
Judge Julie Riendeau endorsed the common suggestion by imposing 39 months in prison on the accused.
Due to preventive detention, calculated at time and a half since April 2021, Verdieu Jr Register’s sentence is 21 months to date, accompanied by three years’ probation. Note that the accused has already been found guilty of causing “unnecessary suffering to an animal” in 2015.