A St. Albert man has been charged with sexual assault and child luring and police believe there may be other victims. The investigation began on March 9 when a parent told police that an adult was having a relationship with their child after reading text messages between the two. On March 25 police identified several teens between the ages of 13 and 16 who said they had contact with the man since last fall. Investigators say one of those teens was confirmed to be a victim. RCMP say the man gave his victims drugs and alcohol in exchange for “hangouts.” Eric Mark Simmons, 26, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference, and luring a child under 16. He has been known to use the Snapchat IDs ericsimmons1738 and ericsimmons9484 but may use other handles. Anyone with information about Simmons is asked to contact St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-4300 or to submit a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. On Tuesday, St. Albert’s mayor issued a statement about the arrest. “We pride St. Albert on being a safe city and these types of crimes are extremely disturbing. Know that the local RCMP are committed to doing all they can to prevent crime in our community, and that crimes like this are very rare in our community,” Scott Olivieri wrote in a news release. “We also take comfort from the fact that when crime does take place, the RCMP dedicates the necessary resources to fully investigate them and apprehend those responsible.”
