A five-month investigation has led to the arrest of a British Columbia man in connection with a historical sexual assault in Peterborough, police said Thursday.
According to the Peterborough Police Service, in August 2021, police launched an investigation following information received from a male complainant alleging sexual assaults in the 1980s.
The investigation led to a Canada-wide warrant being issued on Jan. 7 for the arrest of one man.
On Jan. 17, RCMP in B.C. arrested the man on the strength of the warrant and he was returned to Ontario.
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Gary Bratty, 65, was charged with sexual assault, indecent assault on a male, invitation to sexual touching and sexual interference.
He was held in custody and was scheduled to appear in court in Peterborough on Thursday for a bail hearing, police stated Thursday afternoon.
Police believe there are further victims who have yet to come forward.
Police say Bratty was a professional weightlifter and trained youth throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He was also named to Team Canada’s 1980 Summer Olympics team but did not compete in the Games held in Moscow, Russia.
Bratty was also affiliated with Big Brothers of Hamilton in the early 1980s and trained “numerous youths” in weightlifting during this time in Hamilton, police say.
They also say he worked in provincial corrections from 1980 to 1989 in the Toronto, Peterborough and Ottawa facilities. In 1990 Bratty moved to B.C., where he lived in the Vancouver and Burnaby areas and coached weightlifting at a university in the Lower Mainland.
Police are encouraging anyone with information to contact Det. Const. L. White of the Peterborough Police at 705-876-1122 ext. 285.
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