A retired York Regional Police officer was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday. Donald Clark, 67, pled guilty last week to one count of sexual exploitation and sexual interference, both charges related to the sexual abuse of children.

Clark was a York police officer between 1974 and 2006, and had a part-time role driving York police vehicles to garages for repairs from 2007 until his arrest in Nov. 2015.

“York Regional Police will not tolerate the victimization of members of our community,” said York police Chief Eric Jolliffe in a press release Friday.

“Our investigation and charges laid against Mr. Clark clearly demonstrate that there is no statute of limitations to sexual offences and that every person, regardless of their employment, shall be held accountable for their actions.”

Clark was charged in the sexual assaults of four minors over 40 years. For a decade, between 1985 and 1995, his role involved “interaction with children,” while he worked in community outreach, York police said in 2016.

They also said Clark wouldn’t have routinely been alone with children in the course of his duties, but there were moments when he could’ve been.

Clark was arrested on Oct. 30, 2015.

In Feb. 2016, York police said Clark was facing new charges, amid new allegations about two sexual assaults between 1967 and 1970 and a third in 1996.

All three victims were younger than 16 when the alleged offences occurred, police said in a statement.

It wasn’t clear which case led to Friday’s guilty plea and sentencing. York police didn’t immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment.

Under the headline “Children love new policeman,” constable Donald Clark was pictured in the Star on Nov. 18, 1986, in a story about a new police traffic safety robot “dedicated to the safety of children.”

On Sept. 28, 1989, a sergeant named Don Clark from York Regional Police was quoted in the Star saying “If your child is missing, you don’t want to wait until 5 o’clock. Within 10 minutes of me knowing it, your neighbours are going to know.” The story concerned a telephone program that would inform people when crimes are committed in their neighbourhood.

The Star reported in June 1993 that a sergeant Don Clark said he had been involved with a program aimed at teaching Grade 6 students to deal with peer pressure and be themselves. It ran for three months every year since 1983, with police officers visiting the class six or seven times, according to a Star article by reporter Patty Winsa.

A sergeant named Don Clark was also quoted in the Star on Jan. 27, 1994, in a story about an anti-drug message from York Regional Police and the Newmarket Royals, a now-defunct junior hockey team, aimed at children aged 16 and younger.

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“A sexual assault includes any non-consensual contact of a sexual nature,” said York police in a statement Friday. “York Regional Police encourages victims to report incidents of sexual assault, including historical offences. There is no statute of limitations for sexual offences and offenders can be prosecuted well after the date of the offence.”

York police are also encouraging anyone with information to contact the York Regional Police Special Victims Unit, Sexual Assault Section, at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7071, or get in touch anonymously through Crime Stoppers.

With files from Star staff