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Child porn case against Lethbridge teacher adjourned to April

Mar 24, 2017 | 11:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The case against a 37-year old Lethbridge school teacher facing child pornography charges, has been adjourned for nearly a month.

An agent for Dwayne Schnell’s lawyer appeared in Lethbridge Provincial Court Friday (Mar. 24), explaining that the defence needs to submit a written request for full disclosure, and that there will be a great deal of evidence for them to review once it comes in.

Schnell — who teaches grades seven to twelve at Lethbridge’s French language school, Ecole La Verendrye — was arrested Feb. 22 and charged with possessing, accessing and distributing child pornography.

The charges stem from an investigation that started in January, after the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team — a division of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) — received a referral from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in late December. Concerns centred around a social media user who was allegedly uploading sexually explicit images of children.

Schnell is currently out on $3,000 no-cash bail (money will only be taken if he breaches his release conditions), and living with his parents in Calgary. He is under a number of release conditions, including that he have no contact with children under the age of 16 or access to the internet — with limited exceptions for both.

Officials with Ecole La Verendrye have also noted that he will not be teaching at the school.

The case will be back in court April 20.