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🏢 Corus Entertainment
📍 AB
Aug 18, 2026
· 5 min read
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Sentencing hearing underway for Calgary man who preyed on sex trade workers
Original article ↗Key figures
His trial began in January 2024 but faced numerous delays, including when Mantha fired his lawyers, when he suffered a stroke, when he contracted COVID-19 and his demand the trial be held in French, although it was eventually held in English.
Mantha initially pleaded not guilty to 20 charges, but following the death of one of his accusers, his trial proceeded on 16 counts related to six complainants, while another six charges were dismissed during the trial.
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B.I.A.S. ANALYSIS
CENTER LEFT
Signal breakdown
Heuristic (v1/v3)
0.00 · CENTER
ML v2 (DistilBERT)
0.253 · RIGHT
Ensemble
-0.274 · CENTER LEFT
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Article Excerpt
CRIME
Sentencing hearing held in Calgary Tuesday for man who preyed on sex trade workers
By Ken MacGillivray & Drew Stremick Global News
Posted August 18, 2026 1:10 pm
Updated August 18, 2026 7:42 pm
3 min read
WATCH from April 2026: A judge found 62-year-old Richard Robert Mantha guilty in the drugging, kidnapping and sexual assault of at least seven women at a rural property east of Calgary. Skylar Peters reports – Apr 8, 2026
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The years-long trial of a Calgary man who was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting vulnerable women employed in the sex trade is nearing an end.
A sentencing hearing for 62-year-old Richard Mantha took place Tuesday in place in a Calgary courtroom on Tuesday.
Mantha was arrested in April 2023 following a police search of a property in Rocky View County, east of Calgary.
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An acreage on Vale View Road east of Chestermere in Rocky View County, where police carried out a large forensic investigation in April 2023. Richard Robert Mantha was later charged with several crimes, including kidnapping and sexual assault. Global News
He was accused of abducting, drugging and sexually assaulting at least seven women between September 2020 and March 2023.
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A long list of charges were laid against him, including sexual assault, knowingly administering a noxious substance, uttering threats, assault with a weapon and suffocation in the commission of sexual assault.
His trial began in January 2024 but faced numerous delays, including when Mantha fired his lawyers, when he suffered a stroke, when he contracted COVID-19 and his demand the trial be held in French, although it was eventually held in English.
Mantha initially pleaded not guilty to 20 charges, but following the death of one of his accusers, his trial proceeded on 16 counts related to six complainants, while another six charges were dismissed during the trial.
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The accused never took the stand in his own defence, so the trial relied on the credibility of…
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