REGINA — Mounties say 32 children, some as young as 18 months old, have been identified in an investigation of a man accused of sex offences in multiple communities in southern Saskatchewan.
Richard Dyke, 47, was initially arrested in November after RCMP received a report of sexual assaults involving three boys under 12 in the mid-2010s. At the time, he was charged with 13 offences.
Police said Dyke was living at a home where his partner was operating a registered daycare in Assiniboia, southwest of Regina.
Electronic devices were seized from the house, said Chief Supt. Ted Munroe in a news conference in Regina on Tuesday. Since then, officers have analyzed more than 1.5 million pieces of digital evidence considered to be child sexual abuse materials and identified 29 more children.
"If you were to take that evidence that we located and you were to print that out, it would equate to a six-storey building in paper," Munroe said.
"So you can imagine the amount of evidence that our investigators had to go through.”
Some of the children came into contact with Dyke while he was at the daycare, Munroe added.
Police said the alleged offences date back to 2005 and also involve children in Tisdale, Estevan, Coronach, Gravelbourg and Swift Current.
“The magnitude of this investigation has proven significant," Munroe said.
Dyke faces 60 additional charges, including 14 counts of sexual assault and 23 counts of making child pornography.
He is scheduled to be in Moose Jaw provincial court on June 4.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2024.
The Canadian Press
