A Flin Flon man has been arrested on multiple charges relating to sexual misconduct with minors.
According to a Manitoba RCMP news release, 34-year-old Daniel Hughes was arrested August 30 and charged with 11 separate offenses, including sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation.
According to the Criminal Code, both of the latter two charges relate to offenses of a sexual nature against minors.
RCMP state that Hughes lived in Snow Lake until 2016, then moved to Flin Flon. According to police, his last place of employment was at the campus of Frontier Collegiate Institute in Cranberry Portage, where he worked from 2016 to 2019 as a house parent for students in the school’s residence.
Snow Lake RCMP began an investigation in August after an adult male in the community came forward to police. The male told police he had been sexually abused as a child over an eight-year span from 2004 to 2012 while living in Snow Lake. Later in the investigation, a second adult male came forward with similar accusations during the same time frame.
Hughes was arrested on August 30 and remanded into police custody. He has since been released with several court-imposed conditions, according to the release.
Both Snow Lake RCMP and the Manitoba RCMP Major Crime Unit are continuing an investigation.
"Police are concerned that there may be additional victims," reads the RCMP release.
Anyone with information relating to the case are asked to call Snow Lake RCMP at 204-358-7723 or to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (1-800-222-TIPS).
Reports of sexual assault survivors 16 years of age or younger can be accepted by Klinic Community Health, which has partnered with RCMP. The Klinic sexual assault crisis line can be reached at 1-888-292-7565 and is available 24/7.
Following the announcement Sept. 12, Frontier School Division superintendent Reg Klassen issued a statement stating that Frontier was working with RCMP and has suspended Hughes from working with the division.
"Please be assured that he was subject to all criminal background checks including the Child Abuse Registry, criminal record check, and references before he was hired," read Klassen's statement.
In both Klassen's statement and a question and answer posting made on the Frontier School Division website, the division said the complaints about Hughes did not stem from his time with Frontier.
"We have never received a complaint regarding this individual and he has had two performance reviews which didn’t indicate any problems. We view this as an isolated incident but nevertheless we are conducting our own inquiries," reads the question and answer post.
