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By CIARA BANKS
Article Category: Escort Services
Added on: 08/24/07 03:05
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By licensing escort agencies, which are commonly known to provide sex for money, the City of Calgary led an escort operator to believe he wasn't breaking any laws, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Patrick Sullivan ruled Tuesday.
The owner of a rival city escort service said the judge's decision will allow her to conduct business with more confidence.
"This is fantastic," said Carol, who owns The Sweetest Taboo and refused to give her last name or age. "This is going to allow me to be a little more confident about running my business.
"I feel like we're doing nothing wrong in this industry. There are a lot of lonely, lonely people who need company."
Eastaugh was found guilty of two counts of living off the avails of prostitution, one count of operating a common bawdy house and one count of using a cellphone when he was prohibited by the courts.
But Eastaugh was not sentenced to a prison term.
"The City of Calgary erroneously induced the accused to reasonably believe that deriving an income from an escort agency, where escorts are engaged in sex for money, was not contrary to the criminal law," Sullivan said, delivering his 81-page verdict.
He cited a 1995 letter from a police commissioner urging the mayor to repeal the bylaw, which was "a thinly veiled attempt to control prostitution." A commissioner's report said the licensing served to "legitimize a portion of the sex trade industry."
Sullivan discharged the charge of violating a court order prohibiting cellphone use.
The only sentence Eastaugh received was for operating a bawdy house, relating to women having sex with clients in his home. In that case, the approximately 250 days he served before trial fulfilled the sentence.
Defence lawyer Patrick Fagan was thrilled Eastaugh was freed.
He said his client believed he was shielded from prosecution by being licensed by the city.
"The city tried to do the right thing," Fagan said. "They tried to get the girls off the street. They tried to make things safer, cleaner. They simply legislated in an area in which they have no jurisdiction."
The family of a 26-year-old escort who committed suicide while meeting clients in Vancouver was numbed by news that Eastaugh wouldn't return to jail.
"I think the bylaw should be changed. . . . (The city) takes money from agencies that provide escorts and prostitutes," said the cousin of the escort, who cannot be named under a publication ban.
The escort's mother also wants the bylaw rewritten.
"As a mom, I don't want to see this happen to another family. Another young woman who is put in a vulnerable place and makes a wrong decision (could) pay with her life or her family's life," she said, her fingers touching a round button with her daughter's face on it.
The Crown is reviewing the verdict and hasn't decided whether to seek an appeal, said prosecutor David Torske.
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