Toronto police say a man has been arrested in connection with a series of alleged sexual assaults near York University.
Police said the man was arrested Friday but are not identifying him right now because the victims are taking part in a police lineup and they do not want to jeopardize the procedure.
On Friday afternoon, Insp. Domenic Sinopoli held a news conference appealing to the public for information relating to five alleged sexual assaults that occurred near the university starting in October.
“There’s several things that lead us to believe it’s the same suspect,” Sinopoli said.
The inspector also expressed concern that each of the alleged assaults had “escalated in violence.”
The two most recent incidents occurred this past Thursday, when two women were allegedly sexually assaulted just 15 minutes apart on Four Winds Drive, near Keele Street and Finch Avenue.
Police said a 30-year-old woman was approached by a suspect around 9:10 p.m., knocked to the ground, forced into a secluded pathway and sexually assaulted.
Around 9:25 p.m., a 20-year-old woman was approached from behind and threatened with a knife, police said.
She was then sexually assaulted and robbed, according to police.
Police have not said what charges the man is facing, only that he has been “charged accordingly.”
WATCH: Sexual assaults linked to same suspect ‘escalating in violence’: Toronto police
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