Ottawa, July 29 (RHC)-- A high-ranking Canadian officer has been charged with a series of sexual assaults involving military minor cadets.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) said on Tuesday that Lieutenant Colonel Mason Stalker has been charged with a string of 10 alleged sex-related counts: three counts of sexual assault, four counts of sexual exploitation and one count each of sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and breach of trust by a public officer.

According to the investigative service, the alleged counts occurred in Edmonton, the capital of Canada's western Alberta province, from 1998 to 2007, while now-40-year-old Stalker was mentoring a local army teenage cadet corps.

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Bolduc, the commanding officer of the CFNIS, has described the charges as "serious and significant under the Criminal Code of Canada."

Stalker, who was released on bail after appearing in an Edmonton courtroom on Tuesday, has been ordered to stay away from places where children get together such as parks, pools, and daycare centers, and cannot have any contact with cadets 18 years of age or younger until further notice.

Stalker commands the 1st Battalion of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Edmonton.