A 21-year-old man accused of murdering a New Westminster woman, is also facing charges in Richmond.
A spokesperson for the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirmed to the Richmond News in an email that Carlo Tobias is facing a single charge of sexual interference with a minor.
The incident was allegedly committed “at or near Richmond” between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30, 2020.
The Criminal Code of Canada defines sexual interference as touching for a “sexual purpose…directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years.”
Earlier this week, Tobias, along with a 15-year-old who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains in the death of 49-year-old Ma Cecilia Loreto.
Loreto’s badly burned remains were found in Greentree Village Park in Burnaby on March 18.
Investigators allege Loreto – also known as Maricel or Mycel to friends – was killed in her New Westminster home on March 17, and that the three individuals knew each other.
On Friday, Tobias and the 15-year-old made their first court appearances in the case by video at New Westminster provincial court.
The BCPS did not say if there was any connection between the sexual interference charge and the Loreto case.
“The BCPS will not be commenting on the circumstances of these offences as the matters are now before the court,” the spokesperson said.
Tobias is set to appear in Richmond provincial court on April 21 on the sexual interference charge.
- With files from Cornelia Naylor, Burnaby Now
