St. Matthew High School teacher Rick Despatie (aka Rick Watkins) is facing an additional 45 sexual offence charges to go along with the nine offences he was originally charged with last month.

All told, Despatie faces 16 counts of sexual assault, 16 counts of sexual interference, 11 counts of criminal harassment, six counts of voyeurism, three counts of sexual exploitation, one count of assault and one count of assault with a weapon.

The original nine charges were laid in connection with an Ottawa Police Service investigation into the alledged assualt of three students who were all under the age of 14 when the incidents took place.

The more recent charges stem from information provided by 14 more students, all under the age of 14, who came forward after the original charges were made public.

The 54 charges may yet be just the tip of the iceberg. Investigators with the Ottawa Police Service's Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section are still expecting other current and former students will come forward with additional relevant information.

Some, as yet, unsubstantiated claims of bullying and inappropriate behaviour mde by former students against Despartie go back as far as the late 90s.

Despatie, 57, taught at St. Matthew High School from as far back as 1994 until he was suspended by the Ottawa Catholic School Board on March 5 when the board was informed of the OPS investigation.

A number of the parents of former students who were allgedly bullied or mistreated by Despatie want the Ministry of Education to launch an formal investigation into how former school adminstrators handled past complaints against him, claiming they were largely ignored or covered up. They don't trust the school board and they have little faith the board will do a proper investigation into the issue given the fact that many of the school's former prinicpals are now superintendents at the board.