Substitute teacher accused of child-porn offences

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This article was published 07/07/2023 (798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 59-year-old male teacher based in Winnipeg — who city police say has been employed by multiple school divisions in Manitoba over the last 15 years — is facing child pornography charges.

On Friday afternoon, two days after officers conducted a search warrant in a Seven Oaks residence, the Winnipeg Police Service announced a substitute teacher had been arrested in connection to child abuse imagery.

Alan Lindsay Veness has been charged with offences related to possessing and accessing child pornography. Veness was released on conditions.

Police indicated its internet child exploitation unit was alerted about illegal imagery being uploaded to an IP address within the city in January and later identified a related single-family residence and suspect.

On July 5, officers searched the premises and reported locating child sexual abuse imagery. Several electronic storage devices were seized, WPS said in a release that states investigators determined the accused had worked in schools across the province for roughly 15 years.

“Even though he’s charged with child pornography charges, that could lead to possible other crimes of a sexual nature against children and we want to make sure that if that’s the case, we provide the information that he was employed in multiple divisions,” said Const. Claude Chancy of the public information office.

“There may be some victimization that happened within those divisions.”

Citing its ongoing investigation, police declined to disclose the names of the educator’s previous employers. Anyone with information is asked to call WPS investigators at 204-986-6172.

Both the Winnipeg and Seven Oaks school divisions confirmed Veness had been on their respective substituting rosters in the past.

St. James-Assiniboia, Louis Riel, River East Transcona and Pembina Trails did not immediately provide comment Friday.

A WSD spokesperson indicated he had “very few” temporary placements and was last employed in the division in 2014. A representative for Seven Oaks indicated the accused was on its substitute list in 2021, but he never picked up a shift.

More recently, late last year, the teacher self-published a coming-of-age fantasy book under the pseudonym A V Lawrence.

When reached by phone Friday, Veness said his lawyer had advised him not to comment.

Chancy said police are typically alerted about illegal online activity via advocacy organizations that monitor it, including the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and its international counterparts.

“It’s instrumental in actually identifying a potential suspect and bringing them under arrest, and subsequently, to court, and it also can be extremely helpful in identifying potential victims of these types of crimes,” the public information officer added.

Child protection centre leaders were not available for comment Friday.

Stop Educator Child Exploitation is a grassroots network that advocates for independent complaint processes, a national teacher registry, and substantial division support, including compensation, for children who have been harmed by school staff.

“I know that we could do better. I don’t think governments are significantly addressing this problem, (of) not having robust enough machinery in place to keep kids safe in school,” said Anne-Marie Robinson, a founding member of SECE.

Robinson touted Manitoba’s new regulatory legislation, which will set up a local registry and make adjudicating complaints against teachers a more independent process.

At the same time, she condemned the limited information available about incidents that have happened in Manitoba and across Canada.

In a statement, Nathan Martindale, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, indicated the union does not comment on criminal or personnel cases.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie