Convicted sex offender facing 7 new charges

Convicted sex offender Martin Tremblay, 45, is facing seven new charges for sexual assaults on young vulnerable women and girls, Vancouver police announced on Thursday morning.

Tremblay has a criminal record for plying teenage aboriginal girls with alcohol and drugs and then sexually assaulting them. Last February, Vancouver police took the extraordinary step ofissuing a public plea for victims of Tremblay.

The move followed a protest on the Downtown Eastside last Januaryby First Nations women who were concerned about Tremblay's upcoming release from custody.

On Thursday, police said 11 women and girls came forward with new allegations and other cases are still under investigation. Police say the incidents occurred between 2005 and 2007, and the victims were between 14 and 19 years old.

Tremblay is in custody and scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 3, said police.

Convicted on 5 counts

Tremblay was previously convicted of five counts of sexual assault in 2002 and sentenced to 14 months.He was found guilty ofgivingdrugs and alcohol to five aboriginal teenage girls and then videotaping his sex acts with them after they passed out.

In March 2010, Tremblay was linked to two teens who died within hours of each other.

Kayla LaLonde, 16, and Martha Hernandez, 17, had partied at Tremblay's home the night before they died as a result of overdosing on a combination of drugs and alcohol.

Lalonde was found dead on a Burnaby street after witnesses said she had been dumped from a van. Hernandez died later after being rushed by ambulance from Tremblay's Richmond home. No charges have been laid in the deaths.

Tremblay was also facing four counts of trafficking cocaine and one charge of possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking earlier this year.