Officials offer new details on area school board employee charged in luring case

An employee at Southwestern Ontario school board charged in a child luring case this week isn’t working at any schools, the board says.

Ontario Provincial Police launched an investigation on May 21 after receiving information about an inappropriate communication between an employee at a school board in North Perth – a municipality that includes Listowel and other communities – and a youth last month, Perth County OPP said.

A North Perth resident, 48, is charged with luring a person under 14 by means of telecommunication and invitation to sexual touching someone under 16. The accused, whose name and gender police didn’t release, was held in custody for a bail hearing, though no court date was provided.

Police didn’t name the school board that employs the accused, but a spokesperson for the Avon Maitland District school board (AMDSB) said the OPP alerted the board that an employee had been charged.

“This individual is not currently working in any school. Student safety is a key priority of the AMDSB and we are fully cooperating with the investigation and providing any information that is requested,” spokesperson Chera Longston said in an emailed statement Thursday.

Longston referred any additional inquiries to the OPP.

An OPP spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case or other incidents to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

This is the second recent case involving a Southwestern Ontario school board employee charged in a child-luring probe.

Police launched an investigation in February and found a suspect was communicating online with what he thought were teenage girls, sending sexually explicit messages and images, and arranged to meet one girl in Burlington, where he was arrested on March 30, police said.

Sallewsky, 55, is scheduled to appear in a London court next on June 15.