The suspect in a string of bizarre sexual assaults in multiple cities has been arrested and charged, York Regional Police said today.

Mattieu Petrin, 28, was charged with four counts of sexual assault, three counts of theft under $5,000, and one count each of sexual interference with a person under age 16 and robbery.

Police released this image last week while they were still trying to identify the man linked to a string of foot fetish incidents. Mattieu Petrin, 28, now faces sexual assault and other charges, York Regional Police said. Sudbury police are now investigating similar incidents in the city. (York Regional Police) Last week, investigators with the York Regional Police Special Victims Unit – Sexual Assault released security camera images of a man who allegedly walked into a tanning salon in Richmond Hill and asked a woman to see her shoe. When she handed it over, he smelled it and fled the scene still holding the shoe.

The next day, Nov. 20, the same man walked into a different tanning salon and forcibly removed a woman’s boot and sock before licking her foot without consent. He took off with the boot, police said.

Very similar incidents were also reported at tanning salons in Barrie, Aurora, Innisfil and Bradford in the days that followed.

Petrin, who is from Innisfil, turned himself in to police on Wednesday.

He is expected to appear in a Newmarket court today (Thursday) for a bail hearing.