A 13-year-old student at the National Ballet School of Canada is facing sexual assault charges and police said Monday there could be other alleged victims.
Toronto police allege that the teen sexually assaulted a number of 11- and 12-year-old students at the school between September 2006 and October 2007.
So far, the 13-year-old has been charged with seven counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.
"The investigation to this point in time -- and some disclosures that we've received from those we've already spoken to -- lead us to believe that there is some other parties who may have been victims in this matter," Toronto Police Det. Hugh Wong told CTV.ca on Monday.
He said one of the challenges facing the current investigation is that students at the school, many who live outside the province, have gone home for the holidays.
Wong said it was "difficult to say" if more charges will be laid.
CTV's legal analyst Steven Skurka said it is quite possible that more victims may come forward.
"They may have been inhibited before (because) they didn't want to be the first one," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me to find that this investigation actually gets larger and indeed there may be more charges laid in the future."
The teen appeared in court for a bail hearing Saturday and was released. His next appearance is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2008.
Wong said police were first made aware of the allegations on Friday after the Catholic Children's Aid Society forwarded an anonymous tip to them.
"They outlined a few things and we followed up on that and as a result we made an arrest," said Wong.
Skurka also said the public should not assume that the school is at fault.
"It's accountable -- there'll be an internal investigation -- but it doesn't mean that the school did anything wrong," he said.
"Everything that I've read seems to indicate that this school handles the supervision of its students pretty methodically."
Because of his age, the suspect cannot be identified in the media.
"Right now it's a mystery to the public but of course inside that school everyone knows who it is," said Skurka.
"...It's a YouTube generation, you can be sure that immediately across the Internet students were exchanging information about who this student is."
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5100, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.222tips.com.
