{"id":818826,"date":"2026-07-22T15:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818826\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T15:19:09","slug":"human-trafficking-probe-leads-to-charges-for-men-from-mississauga-and-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818826\/","title":{"rendered":"Human trafficking probe leads to charges for men from Mississauga and Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two men face numerous charges in connection with a police investigation into allegations a female was trafficked and sexually exploited throughout the Greater Toronto Area.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators from the Peel Regional Police vice and human trafficking squad, with help from Ontario Provincial Police and Correctional Service Canada, arrested a Mississauga man and a Toronto man authorities believe to be\u00a0 associated with the street gang known as MS-13.<\/p>\n<p>The arrests were made as part of an ongoing human trafficking investigation launched by Peel police last November and dubbed Project Mermaid, police said on Wednesday. The probe looked into allegations that a female was being trafficked and sexually exploited across the GTA.<\/p>\n<p>Police allege a man, while serving a lengthy prison sentence, used an unauthorized cellphone to communicate with the victim and a second man.<\/p>\n<p>According to investigators, the men are alleged to have used \u201cintimidation, manipulation and threats of violence to control the victim while financially benefiting from her exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Police executed four search warrants in Mississauga and the Collingwood area, a couple of hours\u2019 drive north of the GTA, as part of their probe.<\/p>\n<p>Marcos Ariel Marinoni, 42, of Mississauga, and Carlos Gutierrez, 30, of Toronto, are each charged with:<\/p>\n<p>Trafficking in Persons.<br \/>\nReceiving Benefit Resulting from Trafficking in Persons.<br \/>\nAdvertising Sexual Services.<br \/>\nCommunicate with Anyone for Purpose of Obtaining Sexual Services.<br \/>\nMaterial Benefit from Sexual Services.<br \/>\nExercise Control.<\/p>\n<p>Marinoni is additionally charged with:<\/p>\n<p>Assault with a Weapon.<br \/>\nKnowledge Of Unauthorized Possession of Firearm.<br \/>\nUnauthorized Possession of Firearm.<br \/>\nWithholding or Destroying Documents for the Purposes of Trafficking in Persons.<\/p>\n<p>Both accused remain in custody, police said.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators believe there may be additional victims who have not yet come forward.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information relevant to the case is urged to call police at 905-453-2121, ext. 3555.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1058\" height=\"1176\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-835243\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Human-traffic-suspect-1-peel-cops.jpg\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"881\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-835244\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Human-traffic-suspect-2-peel-cops.jpg\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>(Photos of suspects from Peel Regional Police)<\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insauga.com\/editorial-guidelines\" class=\"editorial-guidelines-link d-block mb-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n            INsauga&#8217;s Editorial Standards and Policies        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last 30 Days: 46,332 Votes<\/p>\n<p>All Time: 1,442,915 Votes<\/p>\n<p>    114 VOTES<br \/>\n    Are you still boycotting products from the USA?    <\/p>\n<p>\tWIN A $100 GIFT CARD<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to INsauga\u2019s daily email newsletter for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men face numerous charges in connection with a police investigation into allegations a female was trafficked and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":["post-818826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mississauga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}