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Case deferred again for Essa couple charged with human trafficking

Lauriston and Amber Maloney scheduled to return to Bradford court for case management on Nov. 23
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Convicted sex offender Lauriston Maloney and his wife, Amber Maloney, who owned and operated Beating the Odds IBI & Child Development Centre in Essa Township outside Barrie, were arrested and charged as part of a human-trafficking investigation on July 19.

The case against the Essa Township couple at the centre of a human-trafficking investigation has been deferred another week.

A lawyer appeared virtually in Bradford case management court briefly this morning on behalf of Lauriston Maloney, 42, and Amber Maloney, 36.

They were charged on July 19, just days after Ontario Provincial Police alerted the public that Lauriston Maloney, a convicted sex offender who was listed on the national sex offender registry, was living at Beating the Odds Children's Camp in Essa Township, west of Barrie. 

His wife, Amber Maloney, owned and operated the camp at the couple’s Ivy-area home. It offered services for children with autism, but has since closed.

A publication ban protects any evidence heard in court from being released. However, police have previously indicated the alleged victim in the case did not attend the Beating the Odds day camp.

Lauriston Maloney has been charged with two counts of assault, trafficking in a person, receiving material benefit resulting from trafficking a person and forcible confinement.

Nottawasaga OPP have previously said that he was convicted in Peel Region in 2004 and 2013 for 16 criminal charges related to child trafficking. 

Amber Maloney is charged with trafficking in a person, receiving material benefit resulting from trafficking a person, administering a noxious substance, fraud over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.

None of the allegations have been tested in court. 

Both of the accused were released from custody Aug. 11 after being granted bail in a Barrie courtroom.

Lauriston Maloney is required to wear an ankle bracelet and reside with his father in Brampton.

The couple is scheduled to return to case management court in Bradford on Thursday, Nov. 23.