VANCOUVER - Police believe they've taken a "monster" off the streets after arresting a Vancouver man for a series of sexual assaults in Surrey, North Delta and Vancouver dating back as far as 15 years.

Last year, a six-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Newton when a man came up to her, her brother and her friend, asking for directions. He pulled out a knife, forced her into some woods and told the boys to follow or he would stab her. They were forced on the ground and told to look away while he molested her.

In North Delta, two 14-year-old girls were sexually assaulted at knifepoint in 2007 when a man came asking for directions. He forced them into some woods and molested them, saying he would kill them if they didn't stay put.

In 1995, a 13-year-old Vancouver girl was dragged into a school stairwell and molested at knife point.

Chief Const. Jim Chu, of the Vancouver Police, said that victim has been waiting for justice ever since. Today, she's 28.

"Today, I want to tell her the wait is over," Chu said Monday.

"The monster who committed these crimes left DNA evidence behind at all three scenes. We have tied that DNA evidence to a 42-year-old Vancouver resident. The chances that the DNA doesn't belong to him are one in a quadrillion."

Ibata Noric Hexamer is charged with 23 crimes involving unlawful confinement, sexual assault with a weapon, sexually touching a minor, robbery and uttering threats. Eleven are related to the Surrey victims, eight are related to the Delta case and four to the Vancouver assault.

Surrey Mounties and Delta Police helped the Vancouver Police investigate the case over the past 18 months. Vancouver Police Detective Dan Murphy was the lead investigator of "Project Scourge."

"The strength of the victims has inspired us all to continue to press forward toward this successful conclusion," Murphy said. The special task force was formed after DNA from the Surrey case was linked to the others. "At this point we realized this was a situation that was every parent's worst nightmare - the realization that this was a serial child sex predator and that he was unidentified, at large and free to re-offend at will," Murphy recalled.

Police had more than 500 "persons of interest" to sift through before finding a match between Hexamer and DNA from the crime scenes.

Insp. Bob Usui, of the Vancouver Police special investigation unit, said that while Project Scourge was a "very lengthy and difficult investigation" for police, "nothing compares" to what the victims have gone through. "Our thoughts are with them today as we make this important announcement and we hope they will find a small measure of comfort," he said.