Nine members of a family pimping network which raged in particular in Saint-Etienne, Lyon and Toulouse, were arrested simultaneously last week in these three metropolises, announced on Monday the prosecution of Saint-Etienne.
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" Placed in pre-trial detention, the network leaders, two brothers of 32 and 24 years old, who asked for a time to prepare their defense, will be presented Tuesday to the liberty and detention judge of Saint-Etienne, " said during 'a press conference the public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne, David Charmatz, who requires their imprisonment.
The arrest of the members of this itinerant family network took place when they had organized a " session " in Toulouse for part of the fifteen young women, including two minors, whom they exploited. The start of the investigation, in October 2018, was caused by the defenestration of one of the victims of the first floor of a house in Balbigny (Loire), from where she was trying to escape from violent pimps.
Pierre Pascaud, head of the Lyon interdepartmental research group (GIR), has estimated that this network has made nearly 800,000 euros over the past two years, with activity interrupted for more than two months due to confinement.
" The searches allowed the seizure of 165,000 euros in cash and a very large amount of jewelry, " said Laurent Lesaffre, commander of the research section of the Lyon gendarmerie. The Stéphanois prosecutor's office pointed out that the two known delinquents of justice at the head of this organization had recruited their mother, hospital worker, as well as an aunt and a cousin, also socially integrated with a salaried activity, to take care logistics, including making reservations for apartments rented by the week for prostitutes.
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