Wood Buffalo RCMP, human trafficking

On September 7 the Wood Buffalo RCMP arrested a man who has been involve din human trafficking in the past, and this is not the first contact that local police have had with Raphael Patrick Duchard. When police stopped a man for speeding along Highway 63 the vehicle was a rental, and the male presented Wood Buffalo RCMP with a drivers license from Quebec. The vehicle had the smell of marijuana in the interior so a Police Service Dog was called out. Trace amounts of the drug were found in the vehicle so police placed the license on a 24 hour suspension. The male driver left after being told he could pick up his license the next day. When the license was not redeemed from the Wood Buffalo RCMP after 7 days it caused suspicion.

After becoming suspicious the Wood Buffalo RCMP did some further investigation and it was determined that the license which had been provided was a fake, and the male was actually Raphael Patrick Duchard of Quebec. Duchard is wanted on a number of outstanding warrants from the Ontario police. These warrants include sexually assaulting a 17 year old, assaulting a female, benefiting from human trafficking, human trafficking, and even living on the avails of prostitution. According to Wood Buffalo RCMP Cpl. George Cameron“We don’t have anything indicating he has been active on that side of things here in Fort McMurray. It sounds like he just got here.”