B.C. man charged in alleged sexual assaults of children in Ontario, dating back to 1992

A 64-year-old man is facing 20 charges in connection with sexual assault incidents involving children in Ontario, dating back to the 1990s, Peel Regional Police say.

Investigators say the charges are connected to alleged sexual assaults between 1992 to 1995.

In a news release Wednesday, police said a joint forces investigation dubbed “Project Woodland,” carried out with Halton Regional Police and Waterloo Regional Police, led to the arrest decades after the fact.

Richard Neil, 64, from British Columbia, was arrested by Peel police on March 3, the release said. Police have not said where he was arrested.

According to news reports in the early to mid-90s, investigators were searching for a man wanted in connection with a string of sexual assaults involving children, who was dubbed at the time as the “Woodland rapist.” Police told reporters at the time that DNA evidence linked three victims in the investigation.

Police would not confirm Wednesday if the man arrested was the same man they were searching for decades earlier. CBC News has cross-referenced the dates of the assaults reported during that period, which match the dates attached to the charges in court documents.

According to those documents, the alleged assaults took place in separate incidents on Sept. 29, 1994 in Brampton, on Aug. 31, 1995 in Oakville and Aug. 21, 1992 in Kitchener. 

Neil is facing 20 criminal charges, including:

• Three counts of kidnapping and/or forcible confinement. 
• Three counts of uttering death threats. 
• Three counts of administering a noxious substance with intent. 
• Three counts of harassment.
• Two counts of sexual assault. 
• Two counts of sexual assault with a weapon. 
• Two counts of sexual interference. 
• Invitation to sexual touching. 
• Child pornography.

He was held for a bail hearing, according to the release. 

Police say there is a publication ban in place to protect the identity of the victims and that no further information is being released at the time. 

“I was happy to read that the offender has been arrested,” former Peel police investigator Blaise Doherty, who worked on the case, said in an email to CBC News Wednesday. 

Doherty said he is unable to comment on the case as it is before the courts.

Anyone with information on the incidents is asked to contact investigators.