Record checks fail to screen cadet leader who exploited teen

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This article was published 31/01/2019 (2441 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Winnipeg navy cadet leader has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for engaging in a sexual relationship — and fathering a child — with a 17-year-old girl he supervised in the program.

In a case that raised concerns about a “cycle of abuse” that has turned a blind eye to inappropriate relationships within cadet programs — and one that prompted a provincial court judge to speak out against abuses of trust against young people — 49-year-old Peter Schaefer was sentenced on Wednesday for sexual exploitation.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces is looking into how the man was able to volunteer for the youth military organization even though he had a criminal record.

 

Schaefer was an instructor for the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps — Crusader in Winnipeg and the girl was one of his cadets before they began a relationship that lasted about six months, after the teen reached out to Schaefer on Facebook looking for support during a difficult time.

He pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation and has been paying child support, to, “hopefully, at some point, have a relationship with my daughter,” he told the judge. Schaefer is under a court order not to contact the child.

Capt. Amber Lawson, public affairs officer with the National Cadet and Junior Canadian Rangers Support Group of the Canadian Armed Forces, said Schaefer was suspended from the cadet program as soon as the Armed Forces became aware of the allegations in March 2016.

The girl became pregnant in January 2016, and Schaefer was arrested in June after the 17-year-old gave a statement to police, telling officers he was the father of her yet-unborn child.

“We took immediate action and made sure he didn’t have any contact with any cadets,” Lawson told the Free Press on Wednesday.

She said Schaefer is the subject of an ongoing administrative review process.

Schaefer left the military in 1997 when he was convicted for a drunken assault against a woman in a bar. He re-enrolled in the military as a naval cadet in November 2014, when he got involved with the sea cadet program in Winnipeg.

Lawson confirmed Schaefer had been a cadre officer cadet instructor for 15 months before his suspension, but was unable to provide more information about how Schaefer became an instructor.

In the cadet program, cadre officers are required to be members of the military. Cadet instructors are required to undergo criminal record and vulnerable-sector checks that must be updated every five years, Lawson said.

“Our screening does go one step deeper in order to ensure that we are doing our absolute best to ensure a safe environment for our cadets. It’s our No. 1 priority,” she said. “We would not have allowed him to function in that role had we not had those documents… If he was in a position supervising cadets, it does mean that he passed the vulnerable-sector screening.”

Lawson said the Forces brought in new training for cadet instructors last year, focusing on anti-luring and grooming.

The girl’s mother said she reported her concerns about Schaefer long before her daughter became pregnant. She said she spoke to the cadets commander, and went to police after as she discovered the much older man had been messaging her daughter. But, she said, she had no proof of anything criminal.

“I raised concerns a number of times, just trying to be polite about it. I didn’t want to wreck a good man’s future — I didn’t know, I just knew that his intentions weren’t right,” the girl’s mother said.

The family had been involved with the cadet program for years, and she said Schaefer wore military fatigues and “everybody thought that he was a military person… He gave that impression. Now, I find out that he’d been discharged or quit years beforehand?”

Schaefer’s criminal record was disclosed in court, where provincial court Judge Ray Wyant heard the 49-year-old joined the military reserves when he was 18.

Schaefer told a probation officer he became a functioning alcoholic, in part because of the “drinking culture” of the military and went into treatment for alcohol abuse in the late 1990s.

The probation officer’s report also includes information about Schaefer’s 20-year-old friend, whom he also met at a cadets event when she was a teenager. The young woman told the probation officer their relationship has never been sexual.

The report also said Schaefer was sexually abused as a child.

When he imposed the sentence Wednesday, Wyant said it’s “exceptionally aggravating” Schaefer was not only much older but had a position of trust in an organization where cadets are taught discipline and expected to respect their leaders.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay