Updated: Wed Sep. 22 2010 17:33:05

ctvcalgary.ca

Calgary police are investigating another case of alleged human trafficking.

Jean-Pierre Riendeau has been charged with human trafficking, assault, and living off the avails of prostitution.

The 25-year-old Quebec man is accused of holding an 18-year-old woman captive for a month in a northeast home.

The 18-year-old woman had moved to Calgary from Eastern Canada.

"She was forced into prostitution allegedly as she arrived in Calgary and all the money taken from her – no means to support herself and no means of contact and not allowed out of the residence from what I understood," says SSgt. Don Coleman from the Calgary Police Service.

Police say eventually the young woman managed to escape, run to a nearby gas station, and call 9-1-1.

Those familiar with human trafficking say the crime is on the rise in our city.

"As shocking as it is to hear, it's not an exclusive or isolated case,' says Laura Quarterman from the Action Coalition on Human Trafficking. "Typically what we've seen is that it's sexual exploitation. But it's not only sexual exploitation; someone could be held in the city against their will and forced into domestic work."

Riendeau is scheduled to appear in court in Calgary on September 28th.