The Edmonton man convicted of running a bawdy house was sentenced Friday to 2-and-a-half years in prison.
Vishva Juneja, 64, a former driving instructor with Alberta Defensive Driving School was found guilty back in April of two counts of procuring, three counts of living off the avails of prostitution and two counts of operating a common bawdy house.
The Crown was asking for a three to five year sentence and the defence was hoping for less than a two-year conditional sentence, with the opportunity for community supervision.
He told CTV News Friday he expected a conditional sentence because of his medical condition. He said he is a diabetic and requires insulin.
Crown prosecutor Melanie Hayes-Richards was satisfied with ruling.
"Many of the things that Mr. Juneja did were the same things, at least in the Crown's submission, that a street pimp would do, the only difference is that he worked out of a building," said Hayes-Richards.
Justice Richard Marceau said Juneja may have gotten a lighter sentence had he not breached the court's trust by using his driving school business after his licence had been suspended.
"Appears to make no distinction between operating a driving school and a brothel. There is no moral compass in this man."
Defence lawyer Shawn Beaver is now considering an appeal.
"He (the judge) didn't come down as low as we wanted him to and that will be a matter for consideration of appeal," said Beaver.
Beaver said he will consider the options over next week and then proceed. He was hoping to get a conditional sentence that would have allowed his client to carry out his sentence at home.
Back in April, the Crown brought forward police evidence of used condoms, private rooms, boards with descriptions of each woman and testimony from the woman saying Juneja instructed them on how to talk about sex, minimum charges and how big a cut he would get.
A 22-year-old woman, who cannot be named under a publication ban, testified at Juneja's trial in January, stating that she started working at both of Juneja's massage parlours back in 2006 after responding to an ad in the paper.
She claimed that on a busy day, she could earn up to a $1,000.
Fees varied for services but the average was $140.00 to $240.00 depending on the sexual act. She testified Juneja would tell her, "You've got to get laid to get paid."
She added that Juneja would demand a free session from his female staff.
Juneja would receive $50.00 per client for a room fee and this eventually was increased to $75.00.
The witness also claimed that Juneja's studios were the only massage parlours that allowed drugs and Juneja reportedly would bring his staff alcohol on a routine basis.
While in operation the parlours were open from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or later depending on if clients wanted late services.
Back in June 2008, after a seven-month undercover operation, police found that Juneja was allegedly using his position as a driving instructor to get his female driving students to work in one of his two massage parlours.
Juneja, had his business licence revoked along with his driving instructor licence. He owns Just for Men and Hustler's Massage parlours in Edmonton.
With files from Sonia Sunger
