A convicted pimp who has been described as a person of interest in connection with missing prostitutes in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has been arrested in Lethbridge, Alberta. Barry Thomas Niedermier, 43, faces 15 assault charges in connection with the brutal sexual assaults from 1995 to 1997 against seven prostitutes working in downtown Vancouver.

The Vancouver Sun quoted unidentified sources saying that Niedermier is also being questioned by police in Edmonton and Calgary about their own missing prostitute cases. In Calgary, police have been investigating the disappearance of a number of prostitutes in the late 1970s and 1980s. Constable Anne Drennans of the Vancouver police said Niedermier, who was living in Vancouver in 1995-97, is well known to both Vancouver and Lethbridge police.

"It was as part of the investigation into the missing women that information about Niedermier was received," said Drennan. "There has been no link identified with the missing prostitutes, but we would call him a person of interest and we will be wanting to speak to him at length about the missing women's file." Niedermier was sentenced in 1990 to 14 months in prison for pimping a 14-year-old girl who he brought from Calgary to Vancouver.