Man charged with keeping common bawdy house

After an eight-month investigation, Edmonton police have charged a 58-year-old man with keeping a bawdy house, living off the avails of prostitution and off proceeds of crime.

Police say the man was the central figure in a prostitution ring involving two massage parlours in the city.

Staff Sgt. John Fiorilli said Wednesday police received a tip from a citizen that the women were living there.

"As the public becomes more and more educated about human trafficking, the observations that this person made seemed odd [to him]," Fiorilli said.

"He contacted us and said, 'I think you've got a human trafficking scenario there,' at such and such a spa. So that's what got us pointed in that direction, and based on our investigation it turned out to be a common bawdy house," Fiorilli said.

Police shut down the massage parlours Monday when they arrested the man.

Six women were removed from the two businesses and have gone back to the Toronto area where they came from, police said.

The women explained to police that they were not there against their will, Fiorilli said.