A former junior world champion rock climbing coach will be hit with 10 more child sex charges when he returns to the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
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The new allegations to be levelled at Stephen Leonard Mitchell, 56, include two counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.
Each count of that offence, the most serious sex crime in the ACT, carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in jail.
In a statement on Sunday, ACT Policing said Operation Pyrite investigators had recently received information to support new charges that related to Mitchell's initial three alleged victims and a further complainant.
As a result, Mitchell will also now face four charges of sexual intercourse with a child, and four more of committing an act of indecency in the presence of a child.
Mitchell had already been charged with four counts of the latter in February, when he first faced court in relation to an initial total of seven charges.
The other three were of committing an act of indecency on a child, with two of those related to alleged incidents overseas and the other to an occasion in Canberra.
The new charges will take the total number levelled at Mitchell, who was granted bail after two nights in police custody, to 17.
He has already pleaded not guilty, through defence lawyer Peter Woodhouse, to the initial seven charges, which allege crimes committed between 1998 and 2006.
Mitchell, who lives in Holt, coached some Canberra rock climbers who became junior national or world champions between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s.
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He was involved in a large number of sporting programs in the ACT, including at the Australian Institute of Sport and the Canberra Police Community Youth Club.
His current bail conditions include bans on being within 25 metres of any sporting club or gymnasium, and reporting weekly to Belconnen Police Station.
A year after investigations into Mitchell began, police say they are ongoing.
Anyone with information relating to the 56-year-old is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the Crime Stoppers website.
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