A Quebec man has been charged by the RCMP with human trafficking after being initially arrested for irregular driving in Manitoba.
Jean Francois D’Asti-Brideau, 26, of Laval, was stopped on the Winnipeg ring road in January 2021. At the time, police said there appeared to be a physical altercation between the man and his passenger.
The woman was later determined to be a victim of human trafficking and was taken from Quebec to British Columbia, the RCMP said in a press release on Thursday.
D’Asti-Brideau was located in Kamloops and arrested on Tuesday. He is charged with human trafficking and sex-related offenses and has been returned to Winnipeg.
During the initial traffic stop in January 2021, D’Asti-Brideau became combative while in custody and resisted officers, the RCMP said in the press release. He also gave them a false name.
When his real identity became known, it was discovered that he had several arrest warrants from Quebec and Ontario. A search of vehicles found several weapons, including a stun gun.
D’Asti-Brideau was charged with various crimes related to weapons, identity fraud, obstruction of a peace officer and various crimes under the Traffic Act.
He was released in June 2021, but the investigation by the RCMP of Manitoba and police agencies in other provinces continued, resulting in a traffic arrest this week.
Eventually, the woman arrived in BC, but police did not say if she waited in Winnipeg during the five months D’Asti-Brideau was in jail or if she was caught by someone else.
“For your questions about the victim, we will not share many details to protect her,” said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Julie Courchaine told CBC News.
In its press release, the RCMP praised the work of the original officer for detecting that there could be a more important issue than a simple traffic stop.
“This is the kind of crime that is not always easy to see. In this case, an RCMP agent with our central traffic services unit was aware of what he was looking for and saw signs that this couple was not what he looked like and called. us inside “, sgt. Morgan Page of the RCMP’s top criminal services in Manitoba testified.
“This was a major move by this officer and we were able to contact police agencies in other provinces to further this investigation.”