Two Halifax men face new charges

Police have announced new charges against two Halifax men as part of Operation Apollo, an investigation that was opened in October 2016 after several men came forward to say they were sexually abused by teachers and coaches in the Halifax area in the 1970s and 1980s.

In a news release Thursday, Halifax Regional Police said Michael Patrick McNutt, 66, was arrested at the police station Nov. 14 and charged with single counts of indecent assault and sexual assault and two counts of gross indecency.

Police said the new charges involve two alleged victims. McNutt, who was first arrested last January, now faces about 95 charges involving 35 complainants.

McNutt was released by police and will appear in court at a later date.

On Tuesday, investigators charged Jaddus Joseph Poirier, 77, with one count each of gross indecency and indecent assault in relation to one victim. Poirier was arrested at a residence in Halifax and will appear in court Jan. 23.

Poirier was first arrested in April. He now faces 11 charges involving four boys.

Poirier is alleged to have committed all his offences in the Halifax area. McNutt allegedly committed most of his offences in Halifax and Dartmouth but some in Grand Lake, Stellarton, Liverpool, Truro and New Glasgow.

Both men remain free on bail. Poirier is accused of breaching his release conditions in June by having contact with one of the complainants.

McNutt has two convictions for sex-related offences involving boys on his record, from 2013 and 2015. He was also convicted of a sex offence in 1994 but received a pardon for that matter.