By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Sentencing delayed for former teacher in child porn case

Sep 18, 2018 | 11:38 AM

LETHBRIDGE – An incomplete form has caused a delay in the sentencing of a former elementary school teacher, who admitted to making and possessing child pornography in July.

Following Mark Anderson’s guilty pleas on July 16, his lawyer, James Rouleau, requested that a FAOS report (Forensic Assessment Outpatient Service) be ordered for his client. He told the court that he would like a medical determination of Anderson’s risk of recidivism. The matter was then adjourned to for an update on the progress of the report – expected to take eight to 12 weeks to prepare.

With the case back in court Tuesday morning, Sept. 18, Rouleau explained that because a form was incomplete, the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre in Calgary failed to contact Anderson to begin the assessment. Having corrected the issue, an adjournment was granted to Oct. 9, at which time they will again hope to get an update on the progress of the report.

The 44-year-old Pincher Creek man had been teaching fourth grade at Napi’s Playground Elementary School in Brocket in July of 2017 – a position he has since been terminated from – when Google tipped off the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children about a Gmail account that had uploaded an image of child porn.

Through an investigation, ALERT’s (Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams) Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit was able to trace the internet address to Anderson’s Pincher Creek home, where they seized a number of electronics and took him into custody. Police also seized electronics from Anderson’s classroom as well.

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During a media availability with police, they stated that the investigation was accelerated as soon as they learned that Anderson was a teacher.

A review of the devices seized – both from his home and classroom – uncovered hundreds of images and some videos of child porn with the children in them ranging in age from three to 16. It was noted that some of the images were duplicates contained on various electronics. They also found that there had been certain file sharing programs on one of the computers at one point, but that they had been deleted and another program had been used to purge the information.

Anderson also provided a statement to police, in which he admitted that he couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t attracted to children.

In regard to the making of child pornography charge, Anderson admitted to hiding a cellphone that obtained two videos of a girl – estimated to be between the ages of 13 and 16 – while she showered.

Anderson remains out of custody on bail.