Head of a Canada-wide prostitution ring pleads guilty in Montreal

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A man who was the head of a prostitution ring that stretched across Canada pleaded guilty Friday at the Montreal courthouse to living off the avails of the prostitution of more than two dozen women and was sentenced to an overall 39-month prison term.

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According to a joint statement of facts read into the court record, Verdieu Registre, 33, was the leader of a ring that included six accomplices, or “bookers,” who worked underneath him as well as 26 women who worked as prostitutes.

Prosecutor Amélie Rivard told Quebec Court Judge Julie Riendeau that one of the mitigating factors in the Registry’s case is that none of the women who worked with him wanted to file complaints with police. Some of the women said they considered Register to be their business partner, Rivard said.

The prosecutor also said the Montreal police investigation, dubbed Project Migration, revealed the network operated for five years in Quebec, Ontario, western Canada and the US

“He acted like a boss and his accomplices, or bookers, referred to him when it came to managing the prostitution. He could determine the location of the prostitution, the rate and how the sex workers would be relocated, as well as their work hours,” Rivard said.

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“The investigation revealed an absence of violence. The majority of the sex workers said they were involved with the network voluntarily and appreciated the management of the accused.”

Some of the bookers face charges at the Montreal courthouse.

Riendeau agreed with a joint recommendation that left Register with a 21-month prison term beginning Friday. The prison term will be followed by three years of probation.

Rivard said Register’s guilty plea saved a considerable amount of time because his trial would have lasted four months.

When the Montreal police carried out search warrants, they found $200,000 in cash and more than $110,000 worth of jewelry inside a closet at his parents’ home on the South Shore. Rivard said there was no evidence to suggest Register’s parents were aware of the fortune that had been stashed in their home.

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A warrant was issued for Registrar’s arrest in 2019, and on Feb. 18, 2021 he was found hiding in the Dominican Republic. In 2018, a Canada Border Services Agency employee tipped Register off to the fact that he was under investigation.

Rivard said the two months Record spent in detention in the Dominican Republic were difficult because of the pandemic. The prosecutor said this was factored into the recommended sentence.

Last year, Manuelle Duranceau-Lapointe, 32, the former CBSA employee, pleaded guilty to breach of trust for sending confidential information to Register by email.

She was sentenced to 18 months of probation and was ordered to carry out 75 hours of community service.

According to the written decision made on the sentence, Duranceau-Lapointe was working at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when she learned Register, her friend, was ordered to undergo a second verification while going through customs after returning to Canada in May 2018.

Duranceau-Lapointe admitted she was curious to know why it happened and found a CBSA file that revealed Register was being investigated. She took a photo of the file and emailed it to Register.

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