2020: Four ?Arabics? Arrested: Nanaimo man pleads guilty to transporting young girls [without ID] for sex trafficking

Arheel's Uncle

Senior Reporter
HUMAN TRAFFICKING HUB



Nanaimo man pleads guilty to transporting youth for sex trafficking​



Adam Chan

Adam Chan CTV News Vancouver Island Associate Digital Producer

Contact

Published Thursday, October 29, 2020 3:10PM PDT Last Updated Thursday, October 29, 2020 5:24PM PDT

Swift Current Online

Shawn Alexander Kelly (far left), Seyed Kourosh Miralinaghi (second farthest right), and Seyed Kamran Miralinaghi (farthest right) enter Swift Current Provincial Court to address their human trafficking charges Friday. (Courtesy: Swift Current Online)


VICTORIA -- A Nanaimo man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for transporting a youth for sexual services earlier this year.
Seyed Kamran Miralingahi, 19, is one of four Vancouver Island residents who were arrested for human trafficking on Jan. 28 after an off-duty Mountie spotted three vehicles with tinted windows speeding along the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan.
Police officers pulled the convoy over and became suspicious when they noticed two young girls in the back seats of two of the vehicles. Both girls turned out to be youth under the age of 18 with no identification.

Related Stories​


On Oct. 13, Miralingahi pleaded guilty to exercising control over a youth to provide sexual services. Crown and Defence lawyers then presented a joint submission for a sentence of three years and 24 days in prison, followed by three years probation, a 10 year ban on firearms and an order to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registration Act for 20 years.
Of the more than three-year prison sentence, 390 days are being credited for time already served, leaving Miralingahi with two years less one day left to serve in prison.
The matters for the other three co-accused remain outstanding, according to the Government of Saskatchewan.
The three co-accused are all from Vancouver Island, including
Seyed Kamran Miralinaghi’s twin brother, Seyed Kourosh Miralinaghi of Nanaimo and Victoria residents Shawn Alexander Kelly, 23, and Shermineh Sheri Zaiee, 36.
In February, Kelly and Ziaee were granted bail terms that include multiple conditions in Swift Current, Sask. The conditions included a ban on contacting any of the complainants, those they were arrested with and anyone under the age of 18.
 
Shawn Alexander Kelly (far left)



Trish Kelly says her brother, Shawn Kelly, got caught up in the wrong crowd prior to being arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Swift Current, Sask., on Jan. 28, 2020. (Courtesy of Trish Kelly)

Trish Kelly says her brother, Shawn Kelly, got caught up in the wrong crowd prior to being arrested on suspicion of human trafficking in Swift Current, Sask., on Jan. 28, 2020. (Courtesy of Trish Kelly)

‘Not the monster everyone thinks’: Sister of human-trafficking suspect speaks out​


Trish Kelly’s brother was one of four Vancouver Island residents arrested last month in Saskatchewan



The sister of one of the four Vancouver Island residents charged with human trafficking-related offences in Saskatchewan last month says she believes her brother got caught up with the wrong crowd.

Trish Kelly says her younger brother, Shawn Alexander Kelly, 23, had been planning to drive to Ontario to live with his mother, but would give his roommates, 19-year-old twins Seyed Kourosh Miralinaghi and Seyed Kamran Miralinaghi, and their mother, Shermineh Ziaee, 36, a ride to Montreal first.

“My brother was getting tired of [living] down here and he missed our family up in Ontario,” says Kelly, adding that her brother had been thinking about moving for months.

Shawn, the brothers and their mother were arrested on Jan. 28 in Swift Current, Sask., on suspicion of human trafficking after they were stopped for speeding on Highway 1 in a tight group. Upon pulling the three vehicles over, police found two underage girls, neither of whom had identification, in the back seat of separate vehicles with tinted windows.
RELATED: Recent arrests skim surface of Victoria’s human trafficking problem
Shermineh Sheri Ziaee was arrested with her twin 19-year-old sons, Seyed Kourosh Miralinaghi and Seyed Kamran Miralinaghi and Shawn Alexander Kelly on Jan. 28 in Swift Current, Sask. and charged with human trafficking related offences. (Shermineh Sheri Ziaee/Facebook)
The twins remain in custody in Saskatchewan, but Ziaee returned to Greater Victoria on Feb. 6 after being released on $1,000 bail. The following day, she told Black Press Media in a brief interview outside her home that she was innocent and that they had been travelling to Montreal when they were arrested.

Shawn Kelly was also released on a promise to appear but was arrested again on a weapons breach. According to his sister, he had been staying in Saskatchewan with their uncle, who owns a hunting gun and had forgotten to lock the safe when police searched the home following his arrest.

RELATED: Victoria man charged with human trafficking offences is back in jail for weapons breach

“It’s not like he had a gun and was going to use it. It was just in the house,” Trish Kelly says.
Shawn and his sister were born in Ontario and moved to Victoria with their father when they were young. Shortly after their arrival, the siblings were put into foster care. A couple of years ago, their father died from a heroin overdose, Kelly says, which is why Shawn does not use drugs or alcohol.

Since the news came out that her brother had been charged, Kelly says she has been anxious — even experiencing panic attacks — due to hateful comments posted on social media.
“People need to understand that it’s hard for his family to be dealing with this, knowing that he could have done this,” she says. “He could not have done this … Shawn’s not the monster everyone thinks he is.”
 
Back
Top