By Sheldon Spackman

Red Deer man charged after downtown sexual assault

Nov 29, 2018 | 1:09 PM

A 41-year-old man has been arrested following a sexual assault in downtown Red Deer on Wednesday.

RCMP say Daniel Leonard of Red Deer faces 10 charges from the November 28 incident, including two counts of sexual assault, three counts of failing to comply with a probation order, two counts of failing to comply with a condition of an undertaking and three counts of an indecent act.

Red Deer RCMP Inspector Dean LaGrange says the incident happened late morning around 11:00 a.m. near City Hall.

“A female stated that she had been groped and touched inappropriately by an unknown individual,” states LaGrange. “She gave a quick description of the offender and last known direction of travel and our officers responded immediately to the area and within say five minutes we had a suspect in custody. It’s traumatic for the victim when this happens but to my knowledge she was not harmed physically.”

LaGrange says the incident occurred while the victim was walking.

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“A male came up behind her and grabbed her in a private area and continued on his way,” he explains. “However, he was found coming out from between the library and City Hall. I’m glad we’ve got him in custody and were able to give that victim some kind of closure I’m hoping.”

In recent months, Red Deer RCMP have been investigating several complaints of offences sexual in nature throughout the city.

On October 18, Mounties asked for the public’s help in identifying a suspect after two separate incidents, while several other incidents were reported in November which police continue to investigate.

RCMP have not however established whether all prior reported offences are linked to Daniel Leonard. 

LaGrange admits though that Leonard is known to police and consider him to be a suspect in the other incidents they’re investigating.

“We are actively investigating those to see if we can establish any link,” he explains. “Incidents of this nature are obviously concerning to us and should be concerning to the general public as well. It’s important for members of the public to be aware of their surroundings no matter where they are or what time of the day, especially females by themselves walking to their car or whatever the case may be as it’s always good safety measures to take.”

LaGrange encourages anyone who has experienced a similar type of incident to contact police immediately.   

Leonard remains in custody and due in Red Deer Provincial Court December 5. 

In February of this year, Leonard was sentenced for a 2016 sexual assault in downtown Red Deer. He was previously convicted for sexual assaults on two women near the University of Alberta in January 2014, and served more than two years in a U.S. prison for making thousands of harassing phone calls to women while he worked as a human resources manager at a water park in Washington State. He was deported back to Canada in June 2013.