Monday, November 24, 2014

Ontario College of Teachers Hearings - December 2014


Three-member panels of the Discipline Committee conduct public hearings into cases of alleged incompetence or professional misconduct... Discipline Committee panels have ordered that summaries of these recent disciplinary cases be published in Professionally Speaking. Copies of the full decisions are available at oct.ca/members/complaints-and-discipline/decisions.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the certificate of Martin Careen, a former member of the College and a former teacher in British Columbia, related to a criminal conviction for sexual exploitation... On July 13, 2011, Careen was found guilty of sexual exploitation following a trial before the Honourable Mr. Justice Terence Schultes, in British Columbia. Careen had sent sexually explicit text messages to a student. In his judgment, the judge noted, with respect to the text messages, “I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Careen at the time of these communications intended that (the student) would receive his words as an invitation, incitement or counselling to engage in sexual activity with him.” On May 16, 2012, Careen was sentenced to a 60-day jail sentence to be served intermittently at three-week intervals.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the certificate of Rainbow District School Board teacher Richard William Cole related to a criminal conviction for copying sexually explicit photos from students’ computers and downloading pornography on his school-assigned computer during work hours. On or about June 23, 2006, a school technician, while performing maintenance activities, found sexually explicit images on Cole’s computer. In addition to his teaching duties, Cole had a supervisory role of the operations of the school’s
computer network. A board technician later confirmed that Cole’s computer contained 379 sexually explicit pictures that he had copied from students’ computers. The technician also confirmed that Cole was surfing and downloading pornographic material on his work laptop.

Discipline Committee panel revoked the certificate of Dennis Alan McDermott, a Peel District School Board teacher, in connection with a criminal conviction for sexual exploitation. The panel heard evidence that, in July 2012, the member had an inappropriate personal relationship and sexual relationship with a former female student. In April 2013, he was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment and 12 months of probation.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the certificate of former Scarborough District School Board teacher Alex Stanley Owen in connection with a criminal conviction for indecent assault of a child and possession of child pornography. Owen acknowledged that, on seven to 10 occasions, he fondled a child’s penis by reaching inside his pants. These assaults took place between 1962 and 1967, while the child was in his care. In addition, Owen admitted possessing 9,600 unique images of child pornography. In August 2012, he pleaded guilty to indecent assault of a child and possession of child pornography. In October of the same year, he received two conditional sentences of 12 months and six months, to be served consecutively, followed by two years of probation. A prohibition order is in place for five years to ensure that he is not in the presence of any child under 16.

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