DNA link to sex attacks found by Alta. police

A man living in Leduc County just south of Edmonton is facing numerous sex-related charges after city police and Leduc RCMP used DNA evidence they say links him to five violent sexual attacks in Alberta and British Columbia.

A 29-year-old Edmonton woman reported to RCMP she was sexually assaulted at a rural home near Leduc on Jan. 22, 2011.

The woman said a man brought her to the home and attacked her once she decided to leave. After the assault, the man drove the woman back to Edmonton and dropped her off. RCMP later arrested 37-year-old Oliver James Doherty.

RCMP used evidence gathered during that investigation to connect the Leduc attack to two sexual assault cases reported in Edmonton in 2004, one case in Vegreville, Alta., also in 2004, and a fourth in New Westminster, B.C., in February 2010.

"Incidents reported immediately to police authorities presented the opportunity to gather the best evidence, which included DNA," said Staff Sgt. Deb Jolly of the Edmonton police sexual assault section.

Doherty is charged with unlawful confinement, sexual assault with a weapon, uttering threats to cause death, possession of an offensive weapon, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, choking to overcome resistance, sexual assault causing bodily harm, and breach of recognizance in relation to the incidents in Edmonton and Vegreville.

He is charged with sexual assault  and choking to overcome resistance in the Leduc County case.

Doherty is free on bail and will appear in Edmonton court May 27.

He will appear in Leduc court on the Leduc County charges July 13.