Teacher gets two years for sex abuse of student
A former Sherwood Park teacher who sexually abused a Grade 9 student was handed a two-year jail term Monday during a heated sentencing in court.
Brett Daniel Mittelsteadt, 33, pleaded guilty in Edmonton’s Court of Queen’s Bench to sexual interference of a person under 16 and luring a child under 16 for the purpose of facilitating a sexual offence.
Justice Brian Burrows accepted a joint submission by Crown and defence for the two-year sentence and said Mittelsteadt’s conduct must be “strongly” denounced and deterred. He also placed him on the national sex offender registry for life.
Both the victim, who was 14 and 15 during the 11/2-year time frame of the incident, and Mittelsteadt, a married father with two young children, cried while speaking during the sentencing.
The teen told court in her victim impact statement that Mittelsteadt robbed her of her childhood and her innocence, and said she suffers from anger and depression due to the abuse.
“My mind will be forever scarred,” she said.
“You took my childhood and my hope for happiness. I went from a child to an adult in a matter of moments and there is no way back.”
The teen’s parents also wrote a victim impact statement. Her father called the abuse their family’s “worst nightmare.”
The angry dad also criticized Mittelsteadt for betraying and forever changing their family, calling him “selfish,” “narcissistic” and a “lunatic” in the school system.
“You are not a professional. You are not a teacher,” he said.
“We are angry; oh, so angry. You will find no forgiveness.”
Crown prosecutor Keith Nicholls told court that Mittelsteadt had “profoundly” abused a position of trust on two levels, firstly as the victim’s teacher and basketball coach, and secondly, as a “very close” friend of the teen’s family.
Nicholls called Mittelsteadt “profoundly immature” and described him as “not a predator, but a relational offender.”
According to an agreed statement of facts, the sexual abuse took place between March 1, 2013, and Sept. 1, 2014, while the victim was a student at Holy Spirit Catholic School in Sherwood Park and Mittelsteadt was one of her teachers and her basketball coach.
Court heard the inappropriate relationship began when Mittelsteadt laid his head in the teen’s lap while on a bus when the two were on a school trip. After the trip, Mittelsteadt told her in a text that he loved her. He also sent her a picture of himself shirtless.
Court heard the relationship progressed from texts to late night phone calls and chats on FaceTime. Mittelsteadt sent her messages saying she was beautiful and he wanted her. He also discouraged her from going to parties or dating fellow students.
Mittelsteadt sent various pictures of himself nearly naked and asked her to send him pictures.
Court heard the pair also met in unoccupied rooms at the school, including on weekends, and engaged in hugging, kissing and making out. He also fondled her in parking lots while driving her home.
There was also two incidents at the girl’s home, including one involving alcohol, and another at the home of one of his friends.
Court heard the teen disclosed the relationship with Mittelsteadt to a boyfriend in the summer of 2014 and stopped contact with him.
Mittelsteadt was charged in February 2015 and police said at the time that a complaint was made after the teen disclosed the relationship to a teacher.
Defence lawyer Mona Duckett told court Mittelsteadt resigned from teaching and said that he has lost a vocation he had truly enjoyed.
“This was never my intention,” Mittelsteadt said.
“I am really sorry. I will be the last person to ever forgive me.”