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Man who pimped teens sentenced to 23 years

Reza Moazami human-trafficking conviction a first for province
Supreme Court

A violent pimp who trafficked teenaged girls from around the Lower Mainland in a prostitution ring has been handed a 23-year sentence by a B.C. Supreme Court justice.

Reza Moazami, 30, will serve almost 18 more years in jail after receiving credit for time already spent behind bars.

Justice Catherine Bruce handed down the lengthy sentence to Moazami Tuesday morning on 30 prostitution-related offences, saying the jail time is needed to recognize the harm he caused.

Moazami was convicted last year of offences ranging from living off the avails of prostitution to sexual exploitation and sexual interference.

Bruce said the case was “extraordinary” because of the number of victims, the two-and-a half-year period when he committed offences, and Moazami’s lack of remorse.

Moazami was convicted of offences against 11 teens, who were between 14 and 19 when he forced them into prostitution. Most of them were under 18.

As a pimp, Moazami used both psychological and physical threats to force the girls to work for him. He took their photos to post on websites advertising sexual services, took calls to arrange their clients, pocketed the money and gave the teens drugs to keep them dependent on him.

Moazami forced some of the girls to have sex with up to 10 men or more in a day.

One of the girls attempted to commit suicide by jumping off an apartment balcony to escape Moazami.

Bruce noted his behaviour to another girl as “abusive, callous and borders on psychopathic,” adding Moazami once tried to sell her to another pimp over the Internet.

Several of the girls Moazami forced into prostitution were either from the North Shore or worked out of North Vancouver hotels at the foot of Capilano Road.

One girl was 14 when Moazami forced her into prostitution, seeing customers Moazami arranged either at a North Vancouver hotel or at homes in North Vancouver. The girl said Moazami took all the money she made, kept her high on drugs and didn’t let her out of the hotel room except to meet clients.

She described working for him as “hell.”

Another girl with a troubled background in West Vancouver described how Moazami lured her into prostitution with promises of money and a glamorous lifestyle.

A North Vancouver RCMP officer who testified in the case described being called to a house on West Kings Road on a complaint that two young girls were being forced into prostitution there.

When police arrived they found two teens dressed in provocative clothing and Moazami hiding in the pantry.

In sentencing Moazami, Bruce wrote, “Well informed members of our community would be shocked and disgusted at Mr. Moazami’s conduct.”

Outside the court, Sgt. Richard Akin of the Vancouver Police Department said, “This is a crime that was committed in every municipality in the Lower Mainland, from West Vancouver to Maple Ridge.”

Some of the teens are now doing well and others are “not so good,” he said.

Crown prosecutor Kristin Bryson said it was “incredibly difficult” for the victims to testify.

Fellow prosecutor Damienne Darby said she hopes men considering buying sex from teenage girls will realize most of the girls are underage and “there’s a pimp behind that keeping some if not all of the money.

“There’s a lot of misery going on.”