Kevin Martin

Quebec man who chauffeured prostitutes to sexual encounters with Calgary johns handed prison term

Acting as chauffeur for women forced into prostitution in Calgary has landed a Quebec man a 28-month prison term

Acting as chauffeur for women forced into prostitution in Calgary has landed a Quebec man a 28-month prison term.

Calgary Court of Queen's Bench Justice Willie deWit on Wednesday accepted a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Aurelie Beland and defence counsel Shaun Leochko for that sentence for Sergei Dube-Cavalli.

Dube-Cavalli, 29, had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of procuring on the first day of his trial with two other men, Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine, in connection with charges including human trafficking on April 12.

According to a statement of agreed facts made an exhibit in the case, Dube-Cavalli drove the women to their "dates" and collected money from the clients, either through e-transfers or cash paid to the victims.

Between Feb. 15, 2017, and July 18, 2018, more than $420,000 went through Dube-Cavalli's account, which mostly went to the organizers of the prostitution ring.

Beland said that because of the sophistication of the scheme a 28-month term was on the low side, but conceded there were mitigating circumstances that justified some mercy by the court.

Among those was the fact that when one of the victims wanted out, he drove her to the airport to assist her escape.

Despite that, Dube-Cavalli was a significant participant in the exploitation of the three victims, all women in their 20s.

"This was a sophisticated enterprise and his role in that enterprise was a very important role," Beland said.

While Dube-Cavalli was paid a salary by the higher ups, the women received nothing, Beland said.

But she said the offender was not the person who convinced the women to prostitute themselves.

She added Dube-Cavalli was also the victim of a serious assault by two of the women and others.

Leochko said his client came to Alberta in 2015 to look for work in the construction industry and fell in with the wrong crowd.

The trial of Moustaine and Kloubakov is scheduled to resume June 28.