A Calgary man is now facing 49 charges as more than a dozen underage victims of alleged sexual predation have come forward to police.
Calgary police say 19 new victims have spoken out, bringing the total to 22 victims.
Christian Sarile, 27, was first charged on May 3, 2017, in connection with three separate complaints of underage girls being sexually abused.
He is facing multiple counts of sexual assault, making sexually explicit material available to a child, luring, accessing child pornography and a number of other charges.
Calgary police said this is the biggest investigation into child abuse in the city’s history, both in number of alleged victims and the number of charges.
Police said Sarile would use social media sites posing as a young teen male to meet young girls. He would then ask them to “chat” through various social media platforms and then offer them items or cash in exchange for sexual favours.
Calgary Police Service Staff Sgt. Melanie Oncescu said parents should talk to their children about social media and sharing public information.
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“I would want parents to have the same conversations with their kids about social media that they would in terms of being in public and engaging conversations with people they don’t know,” Oncescu said.
“Engaging in a conversation and making arrangements to meet with that individual anywhere is not safe.“
Police said this included victims sending photos of themselves, either clothed, partially clothed or naked.
It’s alleged the victims were girls between the ages of 12 and 17 years old. Police believe one incident took place in 2009, another in 2011 and the remaining incidents occurring between 2015 and 2017.
Sarile was a musician and had completed a degree in education at the University of Lethbridge at the time original charges were laid. In his resume posted online he describes himself as a “Musician. Educator. Student.” It also says he completed his practicum at Connect Charter School, teaching students in Grades 4 to 9.
Police said numerous social media sites were used by Sarile, including Askfm, Snapchat and Instagram, with the user names: josh.c234, bmyles, bmyles23, Brandon, mike.reele, avgjoe2 and a-rod.
Sarile is in police custody and will appear in court on Friday, Dec. 22.
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