by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (May 02/97) - Inuvik RCMP are dramatically expanding their investigation of an alleged sexual assault that took place at Grollier Hall more than 20 years ago.

An unnamed complainant told police earlier this year of an alleged sexual assault by a former Grollier employee during the mid-1970s. Police have since conducted a search of Grollier Hall and plan to interview other Grollier residents of that era shortly.

Literally hundreds of interviews with former residents will be conducted by RCMP in the near future, according to Sgt. Tom Steggles of community policing in Yellowknife. "This is gonna be a big one," Steggles said.

"We could lay a charge today if we wanted to," said Steggles. But police want to determine whether other alleged assaults also took place at the time.

"It has been brought to our attention that something may have been going on," said Steggles. "It's like having a fox in the henhouse ... we want to have a look around and see what the damage is."

Steggles estimated the police would be conducting "between 400 and 500 interviews" to build evidence for the case.

When asked why the RCMP plan to expand such huge resources on one case, Steggles said "sexual assault is a pretty serious thing," and noted that after 20 years, it may be hard to prosecute a sexual assault charge without other corroborating evidence.

Steggles refused to say whether the case was connected with Paul Leroux, a former Grollier Hall employee who was arrested in Vancouver last month and charged with possession of child pornography.

Leroux, 57, was arrested April 10, after police discovered "one of the largest seizures of (child pornography) ever made" in Vancouver, according to Constable Anne Drennan, media liaison officer for Vancouver city police.