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Lethbridge… A Lethbridge teacher at École La Vérendrye has been charged with child sexual exploitation offences following an investigation by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team.
The Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team arrested Dwayne Schnell on February 22, 2017 with the assistance of Lethbridge Police Service. The 37-year-old man teaches grades 7-12 at the Lethbridge French language school École La Vérendrye.
Schnell is charged with possession, accessing, and distributing child pornography. A number of computers and electronic devices were seized from his Lethbridge home and will be subject of forensic examination.
ICE’s investigation remains on-going and additional charges are being contemplated. Anyone with information or concerns about this investigation is encouraged to contact local police or cybertip.ca.
The investigation began in January 2017 when ICE received a referral from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) concerning a social media user uploading child sexual exploitation materials. ICE conducted an investigation to identify the user, and only recently learned the suspect was a teacher.
Schnell is expected to appear in court on February 23.
ICE is an integrated team consisting of Lethbridge Police, Calgary Police, Medicine Hat Police, and RCMP members, and investigates offences involving child pornography, any computer-related child sexual abuse, child luring over the Internet, voyeurism involving victims under the age of 18, and child sex trade/tourism.
The work we do is about our communities, and that’s why we recognize that residents can be instrumental in tackling serious crime. If you or someone you know has been the victim of a crime, or you suspect criminal activity, please reach out. Your information will remain strictly confidential.
Thank you for helping to make Alberta safer by being actively involved and reporting suspicious activity.
