By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Sentencing hearing scheduled for teacher in child porn case

Mar 29, 2018 | 1:33 PM

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

The hearing had originally been scheduled for earlier this month for Dwayne Schnell, however, it had to be adjourned as a forensic assessment had just been completed in the days leading up to it, not allowing the defence enough time to prepare.

The matter returned to Lethbridge Provincial Court on Thursday, March 29, at which time sentencing was set for April 20.

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 defence lawyer Greg 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.

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.

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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 Schell. 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.

by Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Sentencing hearing scheduled for teacher in child porn case

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