Teacher who set up minor for sex with adult male faces jail

A substitute teacher at a school east of Calgary faces jail time for befriending a junior high student and then setting her up to have sex with a man.

The only question for Calgary provincial court Judge Harry Van Harten to decide is how much time behind bars the fired educator will have to spend.

Van Harten heard submissions Wednesday from Crown and defence lawyers in the case of the teacher, a 36-year-old woman.

Since there is a publication ban on the identity of the 14-year-old girl, Postmedia is withholding the name of the teacher and the community in which she taught to prevent the victim’s identity from being revealed.

The teacher pleaded guilty last year to being a party to the sexual touching of a minor after hooking up the girl with a 29-year-old Carseland man.

According to a statement of agreed facts, the teacher befriended the girl, who was a student of hers, and they developed a close relationship.

In June 2018, a man who had met the teacher on the dating app Plenty of Fish contacted RCMP to file a report of sexual activity involving a minor.

The individual reported to police that the teacher told him “about a male named Ryan who lived in Carseland that was ‘falling ’ for (the teen) and that she was in a sexual relationship with him,” the court exhibit said.

Both teacher and student were interviewed and while the educator admitted developing a friendship with the girl and had hired her to babysit her children, neither said anything sexually inappropriate occurred.

Once the teacher’s electronic devices were seized by investigators and text messages reviewed, however, the girl “confirmed (the offender) had been the intermediary between her and Ryan and had set up the ‘meet’ in Carseland with Ryan. (The teacher) had driven her to Carseland to ‘Ryan’s’ trailer and had left her in the trailer so she could have intercourse with (him).”

SIX MONTHS SOUGHT

Crown prosecutor Jenny Rees said a six-month jail term followed by two years of probation would be appropriate.

She noted the offender was in a position of trust with the girl and engaged in “victim blaming” in a psychological report.

Rees said even more jail time normally would be warranted for such a crime, but because of difficulties in the Crown’s case, she agreed to seek six months.

Defence lawyer Ryan Patmore argued a 90-day term that could be served on weekends plus probation would be sufficient.

Patmore said the woman already has been punished by the loss of her teaching career.

Van Harten will hand down a sentence Feb. 7.