Police take rare step of releasing images of teen boy allegedly responsible for sex assaults on Toronto trails

A Toronto Police officer is pictured in this undated photo. (CP24)

Editor’s note: Judicial authorization to release an image of the suspect in this offence has expired and the image has therefor been removed from this story

Police have taken the rare step of releasing images of a teenage boy who they believe is responsible for as many as four sexual assaults on trails in Toronto.

In a news release issued Thursday, investigators said they had been granted judicial authorization to share the images in an effort to identify the suspect.

All four of the alleged assaults occurred last month and the victim in each instance is a woman.

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Police said the first two attacks occurred on the Gatineau Hydro Corridor Trail, near Birchmount Road, on July 7 and July 8 at approximately 5:50 p.m. and 4:59 p.m., respectively.

In both of those incidents, police allege the suspect stopped each of his victims with his bicycle as they were travelling along the trail and sexually assaulted them.

Police said the second set of assaults happened on July 22 and July 23 on the East Don Valley Trail near Wynford Drive and Sloane Avenue.

Police said during the incident on July 22, the teenager began talking to his 54-year-old victim and asked her for water while she was walking on the trail. He then sexually assaulted her and rode away on his bicycle, police said.

In the July 23 incident, the suspect allegedly assaulted a 52-year-old woman from behind who was walking along the trail before he rode off in an unknown direction.

Following an investigation into all four incidents, police said last week they believe the same teenager is responsible for each alleged assault.

He is described by police as standing five-foot-five inches tall, with a thin build and short brown or light-blond hair.

• READ MORE: Toronto police believe same teenage boy responsible for 4 sex assaults on east-end trails

In images released by investigators on Thursday, the suspect appears to be wearing a red t-shirt, black shorts, while wearing a “distinctive brown camouflage-like design” backpack and riding a dark mountain bike.

Youth offenders can typically not be identified by police under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, a judicial authorization gives investigators the ability to share the images released today in hopes of identifying the suspect.

The authorization will expire on Monday at 12 p.m.

Anyone with information related to the investigation is asked to contact police at 416-808-4100 or Crime Stoppers.