Peel Regional Police (PRP) say two men with alleged ties to the street gang MS‑13 (Mara Salvatrucha) have been arrested and charged in a human trafficking investigation that began last year.
Investigators, working alongside the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), executed four search warrants in Mississauga and the Collingwood area as part of Project Mermaid — a probe launched in November 2025 after allegations that a female victim was being trafficked and sexually exploited across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
Police allege one of the accused was serving a lengthy sentence in a CSC institution and used an unauthorized cellphone to communicate with the victim and the second accused. According to investigators, the two men used intimidation, manipulation and threats of violence to control the victim while financially benefiting from her exploitation.
Both suspects remain in custody.
Marcos Ariel Marinoni, 42, of Mississauga, is charged with trafficking in persons, receiving a benefit resulting from trafficking in persons, advertising sexual services and communicating with anyone for the purpose of obtaining sexual services, among other related offences.
Carlos Gutierrez, 30, of Toronto, is charged with trafficking in persons, receiving a benefit resulting from trafficking persons, advertising sexual services, communicating with anyone for the purpose of obtaining sexual services, material benefit from sexual services, and exercise control, direction or influence.
Police say the investigation remains active and believe additional victims may not yet have come forward. Investigators are urging anyone with information to contact the Vice and Human Trafficking Unit.
These allegations have not yet been proven in court.