Martin Tremblay, a convicted sex offender with a criminal history of luring young girls with free drugs and alcohol, made his first appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court Monday.
Tremblay, who is now facing seven new charges related to alleged sex offences against girls aged 14 to 19 between 2005 and 2007, will remain in custody. He is scheduled to appear on Oct. 28 through a video feed.
His offences range from sexual assault, administering a noxious substance to three of the girls and obtaining sexual services for money from a 16-year-old girl.
All but one of the alleged offences took place in Burnaby, with the other in Vancouver.
Tremblay is also a person of interest in a Richmond RCMP investigation into the March 2010 deaths of two young girls - 17-year-old Martha Jackson Hernandez and Kayla Lalonde, 16 - who apparently died due to a lethal combination of alcohol and drugs.
Annabel Webb, a representative of Justice for Girls, said she is pleased with the work done by the Vancouver Police Department to lay the new charges against Tremblay, but hopes the Richmond RCMP and Burnaby RCMP are doing the legwork to link Tremblay to the Hernandez and Lalonde deaths.
Webb was among a dozen or so women's-group representatives who joined the families of Hernandez and Lalonde outside of the courthouse Monday.
Up to 60 Richmond RCMP investigators have worked closely with the VPD to establish the circumstances surrounding the 2010 deaths, and continue to actively seek individuals with further evidence.
Tremblay was previously convicted in December 2003 of sexually assaulting five females aged 13 to 15, and most recently spent over a year in prison for drug convictions.
He was most recently arrested on Sept. 27 at a bus depot in Chilliwack by Mounties following a VPD tip about his release from the Ford Mountain Correctional Centre.
