Eight men from the South Shore are facing a total of 47 charges in connection with a child prostitution ring. Many of the men were supposed to appear in a Longueuil courtroom on Monday morning for a bail hearing, but their lawyer asked to postpone the hearing for one week while he builds his case.
Longueuil police say they started working on this case, codenamed Operation Saltimbanco, in , when a year-old girl came forward and said that she had been forced to perform sex acts.
They are charged with a total of 47 counts of sexual assault, sexual assault on a minor, living off the avails of prostitution, and child pornography. Police say the loosely organized gang of men would hang out at schools they used to attend in Brossard, Greenfield Park and St.
Hubert, as well as the Longueuil metro station and the Panama bus terminal. They would befriend teenaged girls and police say that in some cases the accused allegedly offer the girls drugs before dragging them into prostitution. Police did not say how many girls fell victim to this ring, but they believe more victims exist who have yet to come forward. Editor's Note: the original version of this story did not contain the names of the accused.
Their names were added as they became available. Police say the accused approached teenaged girls at the Longueuil metro stations, among other locations March 1, Following the investigation, officers arrested five men, dismantling the ring.
