Alberta man charged with sexual assault of youth several years after alleged crime

Police in Alberta say a 40-year-old man is facing several charges in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a youth that began in 2017 and lasted multiple years.

Two Hills RCMP say they received a complaint on July 23 about an adult having had sexual relations with a youth between 2017 and 2020.

The victim told police the man had recently threatened to kill her. RCMP believe that threat may have been a factor in her coming forward.

Mounties located the suspect and arrested him.

“A lot of crimes in Canada, it doesn’t have to have happened in the last year or two for you to be able to come forth,” Cpl. Mathew Howell, an RCMP public information officer, told CityNews.

Police say it’s not the first time accusations have been made against the same suspect, and authorities therefore feel there could be more victims. They are urging possible victims to come forward.

“It’s being able to give the victims a voice,” said Howell. “In a lot of cases, they feel like they weren’t able to talk about it, or they feel like they weren’t able to come forth and really share their side of the story. And that could be many reasons. It could be shame, it could be sometimes some of them didn’t realize that what was happening was wrong, sometimes they’re groomed.

“It’s giving the power back to these victims.”

Mark Sayler of Two Hills has been charged with sexual interference, sexual assault, uttering threats, luring a child, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation. He was remanded into custody and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Two Hills RCMP at 780-657-2820 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.