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A convicted pimp who, as a driving instructor, tried to recruit prostitutes for his massage parlours has been sentenced to 30 months behind bars.
"It's not merely a conviction for living off the avails of prostitution, it's also a conviction for causing someone to become a prostitute," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Richard Marceau, sentencing Vishva Juneja, 64, yesterday.
The Crown was seeking a sentence of between three and five years for Juneja, a former driving instructor who was found guilty in April of charges that included procuring, living off the avails of prostitution, and operating a common bawdy house. Crown prosecutor Melanie Hayes-Richards said Juneja was a "street pimp" who worked out of a building.
Defence lawyer Shawn Beaver wanted a two-year conditional sentence, saying there was no risk Juneja would reoffend because he shut down his two massage parlours.
Juneja applied this summer for a stay on a charge of attempted procuring but was denied. He was convicted of a total of eight charges.
Juneja was charged after he attempted to recruit an undercover female officer to work in a massage parlour while she was taking driving lessons.
In his decision rejecting a stay on the attempted procuring charge, Marceau ruled police did not overstep their bounds as Juneja tried to claim.
"In my opinion, the actions of the police in this case are not likely to bring the administration of justice into disrepute; on the flipside, it is the inaction of the state in the circumstances of the present case that would have had that effect," he said at the time.
In April, Marceau ruled Juneja was a keeper of two bawdy houses.
Court heard Juneja evaluated his workers by making them give him a massage and masturbate him.
Marceau also accepted evidence at trial that Juneja used ads with descriptions of the massage parlour workers which "stressed their sexual attributes rather than their massage abilities."
Juneja used "low lighting" in the parlours and supplied condoms, lubricants, porn movies and magazines.
The workers were also told the minimum rate was "a massage and a hand job for $100."
Juneja charged the workers for renting the rooms.
The Crown alleged Juneja was making more than $40,000 a month at the two parlours.
Juneja has lost his driving school business licence and his driving instructor's licence.