A “normal family man” who combined caring for his sick wife with running a £1.4million prostitution business has been jailed for 29 months.
Emil Wakulicz, 32, recruited women from his native Poland to offer sexual services to paying customers in Aberdeen and five other cities.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Wakulicz ran a “highly organised” enterprise in which he set up a call centre to manage appointments for his employees in the capital as well as Glasgow, Belfast, Newcastle and the Granite City.
The business – which made the bulk of its money from £95 “Tantric massages” – ran between April 2011 and July 2015. Wakulicz, who came to Scotland in 2008 with his wife Edyta and their two children. was snared after police received a tip off from a solicitor who had purchased a property on his behalf.
An undercover officer called on one of Wakulicz’s employees and gathered enough evidence to bring a prosecution against him.
Depute procurator fiscal Ann McNeill gave details of the operation at a hearing at the sheriff court last month in which Wakulicz, of Alnwickhill Road, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to living on the earnings of prostitution.
“He provided them with instructions as to what to wear, what to say and how to conduct themselves,” Ms McNeill said.
“He also provided contracts of employment to them and arranged for their tax affairs to be conducted by his accountant.”
Sentence was deferred at that time for the court to obtain reports about Wakulicz’s character.
Defence advocate Susan Duff told the court that her client had expressed remorse for his actions and originally thought he hadn’t broken the law. She asked the court not to jail the “decent family man who lives a normal family life” as he cared for his wife who had been suffering from depression. But Sheriff Nigel Ross said he had no alternative but to send Wakulicz to prison as he had exploited the women who worked for him.
He added: “I have sympathy for your wife and children but the scale of your business means that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Prosecutors have now launched a proceeds of crime action.
Police Scotland said: “Thanks to information from the public and a thorough, protracted and robust investigation by the Financial Investigation Unit, we have been able to bring this man to justice, stop him from exploiting anyone else and seized his assets.”
