Disgraced teacher sentenced to three years in prison

A former Saskatoon teacher who pleaded guilty to sexual offences involving children has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Rhett Lundgren , who pleaded guilty in November 2018 to charges including arranging to commit a sexual offence against a child, learned his fate Monday during a sentencing hearing at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.

Lundgren was arrested in December 2016 following an investigation by Saskatchewan’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, which is made up of RCMP officers as well as members of the Saskatoon, Regina and Prince Albert police services.

Court heard Monday that Lundgren had an online chat over several days with an undercover officer posing as a pedophile.

During the chat, Lundgren arranged to meet the officer and a fictitious eight-year-old girl at a Saskatoon swimming pool. Lundgren said he had found a “good area” in the change room, and suggested they all sit in the hot tub together as well.

Court heard Lundgren never showed up for the meeting, but the online conversation still led police to lay the charge.

Police sent to arrest Lundgren found child pornography on his computer and during the court process, he also admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student in 2009, while he was teaching at a Red Deer high school.

The student had added Lundgren to Facebook because she thought he was a “cool” teacher, even though she wasn’t taking any of his classes. The two started talking over several months, sharing personal details before meeting and making out with each other. After the girl’s graduation ceremony, the pair had sex multiple times.

Lundgren’s three year sentence was recommended in a joint submission by both the Crown and defence.

The judge stated that Lundgren knew what he was doing was wrong, as he requested the Red Deer student to delete the messages he sent to her because he could lose his job if his superiors found out about them.

“There is no sympathy for you from this court,” he said.

The judge also mentioned he couldn’t deviate from the sentencing submission unless it put the administration of justice into disrepute.

Lundgren was teaching at Walter Murray Collegiate in 2016. He was suspended without pay after being charged.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Chris Vandenbreekel.