Police say little about dentist accused of assaulting boys

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This article was published 24/11/2014 (4060 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police are being tight-lipped about alleged sexual assaults by a Winnipeg dentist against five young boys dating back to 1998.

Const. Jason Michalyshen said Sunday police would not confirm media reports that accused Ronald Walter Peterson, 68, is a dentist.

Nor would police elaborate on their initial statement that the alleged sexual assaults and sexual-interference incidents with boys younger than 16 occurred “while engaged in a professional capacity as well as socializing in a public setting.”

Michalyshen would not say Sunday what the socializing in a public setting might be, but did say the accused was not engaged in any form of supervising youth activities at those times.

“We acknowledged the assaults being alleged not all took place at his residence,” Michalyshen said.

Police said their investigation culminated in the laying of sexual-assault and sexual-interference charges.

The case involves five young boys in incidents dating back to 1998. All were under 16 at the time.

The accused was in a position of trust, Michalyshen said.

The child-abuse unit opened its investigation in May after the latest two alleged incidents were reported, he said.

Investigators dug back through police records to three earlier reports and were able to uncover a pattern of alleged abuse, Michalyshen told reporters.

“Since the more recent allegations, we were able to substantiate the early ones,” he said.

Peterson was arrested Nov. 13 and released on a promise to appear.

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

It’s not clear if Peterson is still practising at Harstone Dental Centre on Roblin Boulevard in Charleswood, but his name remains on an exterior sign. Peterson has been a dentist in Manitoba since May 1975.

A spokesman for the Manitoba Dental Association, the governing body for the province’s dentists, said Peterson is restricted from performing diagnostic procedures or treatment on minors without the supervision of an MDA-approved staff member, parent, relative or guardian. Peterson “voluntarily accepted” the restrictions, the registrar said, and they were put in place June 27.

“Allegations of inappropriate conduct by members of the profession are taken very seriously by the MDA, whether within the dental-office setting or not,” the spokesman said in an email Saturday.