Two men charged last year with sexual assault, forcible confinement and extortion have pleaded not guilty.

Fifty-one year-old Joseph Francis Lewis and 37-year-old Ryan Joseph Spencer weren’t in the courtroom when their case was called in provincial court today in St John’s.  They were represented by their lawyers — Brian Wentzell for Lewis and Taylor Starrett for Spencer.

The men’s two-day trial has been scheduled for September.

They were arrested after RCMP searched a Conception Harbour home in April 2023.

Lewis has been free on bail, while Spencer in serving time at Springhill Institution, a federal prison in Nova Scotia, for unrelated drug convictions.