by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 01/97) - Yellowknife police say the latest round of sex and drug charges in the city do not mean there is an organized sex ring at work here.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Grundy says seven men charged late last week with various offences, including having sex with underage girls and trafficking in drugs, were not working together, nor were they directly connected to the ongoing Wing Lee investigation.

RCMP officers began a major sex, pornography and drug investigation in the city in late May after raiding a poker room in the Gold Range Hotel. The room was run by 61-year-old Lee, a former cook who has been running the room for a decade.

Police say they seized more than 1,300 sexually explicit videotapes and hundreds of photographs of nude girls.

But Grundy said that the two are separate investigations, although many of the girls who have come forward with information have done so for both investigations.

"These (latest charges) are not related to Wing Lee," said Grundy.

"The investigation stems from that raid, of course, but these people are not seen in any of the videos or the photographs."

Police were able to track down 12 girls who were seen in the tapes and photographs, he said, and the latest round of arrests comes out of police interviews with them.

All the girls were under the age of 18 and some were under 16 when the events occurred, he said.

"It is kind of a domino effect," Grundy said.

"You interview one victim and others start coming forward, or they mention someone else who may have been a victim."

Police are still interviewing victims, he said, and more charges may be laid against those already charged. He doubted that any more people would be charged but did not rule it out.

"You never know," he said. "You can be interviewing a victim and they can give you the name of someone else."

Lee has been charged with nearly 50 gambling, firearms, drug and sex charges.

Charged last week with various sex and drug offences were Ken Chu, Loc Nguyen, Kan Siu Wong, John Ivan Berg and Timothy Norbert Vornbrock. A warrant has been issued for Peter Poon, who police believe has left the NWT.