Former school VP jailed on sex charge now faces five more charges
KITCHENER — A former Waterloo public school vice-principal — sentenced on Tuesday to 10 months in jail for sexually touching a “fragile” boy he mentored — is now facing five sex charges involving two more alleged victims.
Reuben Lazar, 47, of Kitchener was charged Monday with sexual assault, sexual touching and invitation to sexual touching involving one boy and sexual assault and sexual touching of another boy. He will be in court on those charges in February.
His sentence on Tuesday involved a different boy, a young teenager who previously attended MacGregor Public School, where Lazar was vice-principal at the time of the crime.
Court heard the boy was playing a video game beside Lazar when Lazar touched the teen’s penis over his clothes “before starting to undo (the boy’s) belt and pants, spreading the fly area apart and touching his penis in a rubbing motion over top of his underwear,” Justice Scott Latimer said in a recap of the boy’s testimony.
“You play the game better when I do this,” Lazar told him.
The touching continued for a few minutes. Lazar was convicted of sexual interference, defined as sexually touching a person under 16.
At the time of the crime, Lazar was also a youth group leader at Creekside Church in Waterloo.
The boy’s father said that after his marriage broke up, he reached out to Lazar to help his son. He said he thought he could trust a vice-principal and church youth group leader. Lazar acted as a mentor and confidante to the teen, who was having emotional difficulties.
“I do not lose sight of the fact that Mr. Lazar was fully aware of (the boy’s) struggles when he made the conscious decision to touch him sexually,” Latimer said. “I accept he knowingly touched for a sexual purpose a fragile boy and in doing so greatly increased his pain and struggle.
“Sexual interference is a crime against the body — but also the spirit,” the judge said. “The impact of Mr. Lazar’s conduct on (the boy’s) emotional and psychological well-being is a significant aggravating factor.”
The teen attended high school at the time of the crime but previously was a student at MacGregor Public when Lazar was viceprincipal. The crime did not happen at school.
The victim told court the crime caused panic attacks, depression and suicidal thoughts. He turned to drugs and alcohol “to distract me from my emotions.”
“I would have periods of depression that would last months on end and live in a state of constant anxiety,” he said. “I never felt relaxed and always on edge. This lasted multiple years.”
The judge said, “My primary focus in this sentencing is on the harm caused to (the boy), on denunciating Mr. Lazar’s actions and on deterring anyone, to the extent possible, from committing a similar act.”
Latimer put him on the sex offender registry for 20 years.
Lazar started with the Waterloo Region District School Board in 2003 and worked at six schools: MacGregor in Waterloo and Queen Elizabeth Public School, Doon Public School, Trillium Public School, W.T. Townshend Public School and Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, all in Kitchener.
He was charged in 2016 and placed on administrative leave. Lazar resigned from the school board last June.