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Sentencing delayed until July in child porn case

Apr 20, 2018 | 2:33 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A third sentencing date has been set for a Lethbridge school teacher who admitted to child pornography charges last year.

Dwayne Schnell’s case had to be adjourned Friday morning, April 20, when defence lawyer Greg White said they were not prepared to move forward, as the matter appeared for the second time for sentencing.

White explained that a fifth iteration of the agreed statement of facts has just been completed, which Schnell still needs to review and sign-off on. White added that he also just received a psychological assessment for his client and that he needs additional time to go over it.

Special prosecutor Carolyn Ayre, acknowledged that the Crown was partly responsible for the delay, saying new material had continued to come to her attention, contributing to the multiple versions of the agreed statement of facts.

While Ayre noted that the Crown was prepared to proceed with a sentencing hearing in May or June, she agreed with a defence request to have it scheduled for July 4.

Last October, Schnell pleaded guilty to charges of distributing, publishing, and making child pornography, in connection with offences that ranged between December of 2014 and February of 2017. It was at that time that White asked the court to order the pre-sentence report, requesting that the authors determine if Schnell is diagnosed as a pedophile and for a risk assessment.

Following Schnell’s guilty pleas, Ayre provided the court with a summary of the facts in the case, saying authorities were tipped off by Skype in December of 2016, and later by Yahoo, that one of their users had been sharing child pornography. An investigation led police to obtain a search warrant for Schnell’s home, and when they informed him of their reason for being there, he told officers that he was responsible.

An examination of Schnell’s electronic devices revealed numerous online chats of a sexual nature with girls who appeared to be under the age of 18, in which he shared images of child porn.

As the investigation continued, police searched a Dropbox account that belonged to Schnell. On the account they discovered 150 images of students that were taken without their knowledge, and which were determined to be child pornography. Another 55 child porn images of another youth were also found during the search.

Schnell remains out of custody on bail, with conditions that he live with his parents in Calgary, and that he have no contact with children under the age of 16 or access to the internet – with limited exceptions for both.

After Schnell was initially charged, officials with Ecole La Verendrye, where he taught, stated that he would not be teaching at the school.