A 30-year-old Toronto man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting four women in the Greater Toronto Area and police believe there may be more victims.
Police say three assaults took place in Toronto and one in Vaughan between March and June. Authorities were able to link the attacks to one suspect.
“When we’re dealing with this nature of offence, we reach out to all police services to see if there are similar attacks,” York police Det. Const. Mike Mulville told reporters on Friday.
“When Toronto started to link theirs together, and some of the specifics in the case and the attacks, we quickly learned this is the similar guy.”
The first attack happened on March 24 when a 39-year-old woman was approached from behind and sexually assaulted around 8 p.m. in the area of Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue West in Toronto.
Police said the second reported incident took place when an 18-year-old woman was attacked in front of her home around 1 p.m. on May 26 in Vaughan after getting off a bus in the Keele Street and Rutherford Road area.
Police say the suspect ran towards her and sexually assaulted her before fleeing the scene.
The third attack happened on June 8 around 11 p.m. when a 33-year-old woman was approached from behind in the area of Whitmore Avenue and Fairleigh Crescent in Toronto and sexually assaulted.
The fourth incident took place on June 21 at 11:15 p.m. when a 29-year-old woman was also approached from behind in the area of Brooke Avenue and Yonge Boulevard in Toronto.
Police say she was dragged on a driveway, pinned to a fence and sexually assaulted.
“When he did attack, it was getting more and more aggressive,” said Toronto police Det. Raj Patel. “In most cases, they start off with a threshold that is pretty low and then it increases.”
Surveillance video of the suspect was recorded in the sexual assault in Vaughan and released to the public last month. The footage also showed a white sedan in the area which police say was used to track his victim before the assault.
The accused, identified as Le Roi Saul of Toronto, was detained by Canada Border Service Agency officers at the Ambassador Bridge border on July 7 as he was crossing into Windsor.
He has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment.
Anyone with information is asked to call the York Regional Police Special Victims Unit – Sexual Assault Section at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7071, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.
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