A 43-year-old Surrey man is facing 12 charges in connection with a string of sexual assaults against four Downtown Eastside sex-trade workers dating back to 1994.
Shalendra Kumar Sharma was charged with four counts of sexual assault, four counts of confinement, one count of kidnapping, two counts of assault, and one count of uttering threats.
Sharma, who was arrested Feb. 17, is due in court on March 2.
Burnaby RCMP began the investigation when two women came forward last December after being picked up from the DTES and transported to South Burnaby, where they were allegedly assaulted. The two alleged attacks happened Dec. 4 and 18.
RCMP Chief Supt. Dave Critchley said a VPD sex- crimes analyst helped link Sharma, a labourer at a manufacturing plant, to two similar alleged assaults in 1994 and 1997.
Sharma was not known to police and they don’t believe he’s linked to the missing women from the DTES.
“What we have learned from the past is that it’s critical and crucial that we share information,” Critchley said, stressing the co-operation between the more than 50 investigators from the RCMP and VPD.
VPD spokesperson Const. Lindsey Houghton said the department’s sex-trade liaison gave out 55 emergency cellphones and notebooks to sex-trade workers in the DTES, asking them to report anything suspicious.
Police released photos of four vehicles Sharma has used in the past and are encouraging anyone with information to come forward.
Critchley said they have not released Sharma’s photo or his description to protect the investigation.
Local news from metronews.ca/vancouver
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