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Teen girls at risk of prostitution taken into protective custody

CALGARY — Calgary police have apprehended three teenage girls after finding them at risk of getting lured into the sex trade.

CALGARY — Calgary police have apprehended three teenage girls after finding them at risk of getting lured into the sex trade.

Vice Staff Sgt. Colin Adair said the girls, aged 15, 16, 17, were taken into custody earlier this month under provincial laws aimed at protecting children from being sexually exploited.

Police working on a street-level prostitution blitz between May 5 and May 8 garnered information leading them to the teens.

Adair says one of the girls was found in a flop house and another was hanging around with a pimp.

While there is no evidence any were sexually exploited, Adair said there was certainly potential the teens were being groomed to work as prostitutes.

The Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act means police or child protection workers can take sexually exploited children or those at risk of being victimized from dangerous situations with or without their consent.

Children or teens are then taken to a safe, secure facility where they can be confined for up to five days and given support they need to try to ensure they do not return to that realm.

“None were out there working the streets, at least they weren’t caught there doing that, and we don’t have any evidence to believe they were out there working but they were young girls at risk of being exploited,” Adair said Tuesday.

“There is a market for juvenile prostitutes — there are girls out there, even younger, being procured.”

Since its inception in 1999, the act has been used to take 980 youth and children in off the streets, said Trevor Coulombe, spokesman for Alberta Children and Youth Services.

Those convicted under the act can face a maximum fine of $25,000, jailed for up to two years, or both.

Police charged 30 alleged sex-trade workers and offenders as part of the crackdown on prostitution which led police to find the three teens.