Janitor arrested for sexually assaulting student at North York school, police allege

A janitor at a North York school has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a student, police say.

Officers were called to a school in the Wilson Avenue and Dufferin Street area in May 2023 for a report that a student was sexually assaulted by a custodian of the school, Toronto police said in a news release on Thursday.

Members of the Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, which is made up of specialized child abuse investigators from the Toronto Police Service in partnership with several community agencies, began an investigation and on Aug. 18 arrested the janitor, the release said.

A 50-year-old man from Markham is facing five counts of sexual assault, five counts of sexual interference and one count of exposing genitals to a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose, police said.

The accused has worked as a janitor at the school since 2013, police said.

Police didn’t name the school or board, nor did it say whether the alleged assault was at an elementary or high school.