Teacher facing child porn charges last worked at First Nation

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This article was published 10/07/2023 (869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who has been charged with accessing child pornography had concluded a term position teaching middle schoolers on a Manitoba First Nation in the days leading up to his arrest.

On Monday, Frontier School Division confirmed Alan Lindsay Veness had worked at Black River Anishinabe School for the final months of the 2022-23 school year.

“I can tell you that his references were positive and the Grade 7/8 class in Black River was a challenging class this year,” said Reg Klassen, chief superintendent of northern Manitoba’s district — the largest geographical one of its kind, with schools located from Churchill to Falcon Lake.

Klassen said there were a number of adults supporting the students, including a full-time educational assistant, in the classroom located about 140 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

When the Winnipeg Police Service informed administration of its recent investigation, he said the division undertook its own internal probe. Administration does not believe any wrongdoing occurred in Black River during the three-month stint, Klassen said.

Veness, 59, is accused of accessing and possessing child pornography.

City police issued a news release July 7 to inform the public of the charges and the suspect’s history as a teacher who worked in multiple school divisions in Winnipeg and Manitoba for roughly 15 years. WPS did not disclose exactly where he worked.

During the first half of the 2022-23 school year, Veness worked in the River East Transcona School Division.

“During this time, he completed a one-month term and worked as a substitute teacher up until February 2023,” RETSD superintendent Sandra Herbst said in a statement Monday.

The Winnipeg School Division disclosed the accused had “very few” temporary placements and was last employed by it in 2014. While Veness was on Seven Oaks School Division’s substitute list in 2021, he never picked up a shift.

Pembina Trails, Louis Riel and St. James-Assiniboia school divisions indicated they have never employed Veness.

WPS said its internet child exploitation unit was alerted child sexual abuse imagery was uploaded to an IP address within Winnipeg in January, in turn sparking a months-long investigation.

On July 5, officers executed a search warrant at a single-family residence in the Seven Oaks neighbourhood. Officers located child sexual abuse imagery during the search and seized several electronic storage devices, police said.

Veness faces two offenses. He was released with conditions.

When reached by phone last week, the teacher declined to comment on the charges against him, citing his lawyer’s advice.

Manitoba’s 2016-17 public accounts document, which lists public-sector salaries, indicates Veness worked as a juvenile counselor in a provincial correctional facility. More recently, he self-published a coming-of-age fantasy book under the pseudonym AV Lawrence.

The WPS public information office indicated the accused’s employment history — aside from his 15 years of teaching experience — is not pertinent to the ongoing investigation.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie