Toronto police have arrested a man and a woman in connection with an ongoing investigation into human trafficking across southern Ontario.

In a news release sent out on Monday, police say a 27-year-old woman met a man who introduced himself as “Nekko” on New Year’s Eve in the Windsor area. The victim was later introduced to another woman in Toronto.

Police said the victim was then taken to a mall, where lingerie was bought for her, and then to a hotel where she was forced to wear the items and pose for photos. The pictures were subsequently posted online to advertise sexual services, police said.

“The man and the woman would communicate with clients, pretending to be the 27-year-old woman and organize each ‘date’ with the clients,” police said. “The man would dictate what sexual services were to be provided, for how long, and how much money to collect.”

According to police, the victim was taken to numerous hotels in the province and forced to provide sexual services against her will between New Year’s Day and Jan. 14.

All of her personal items were taken by the man and the woman, police said.

Brian Hubert Richards, 36, of Toronto, and Jennifer Sczembora, 37, of Alberta were arrested on Jan. 22 on nine charges each, including trafficking in persons by recruiting, advertising another person’s sexual services, and materially benefiting from those services.

They appeared in court at Old City Hall on Jan. 23.

Police say they are concerned there may be other victims.

“Police would like to encourage all affected individuals to come forward and report Human Trafficking occurrences to police,” the release said. “We want to make sure that everyone has access to support services and an exit strategy, regardless of their decision to proceed criminally.”

In 2015, a Toronto Star investigation found human trafficking to be one of the fastest growing crimes in the province, with an increasing amount of young women being forced to work as prostitutes.

At the time, detectives and social workers estimated the number of victims involved to be in the thousands.

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