A Windsor teacher has been sentenced to three years in prison for sexual offences against a high school student.
Ryan Turgeon, 39, was convicted by a jury in April 2024 to sexual exploitation and making sexually explicit material available to a minor.
He was acquitted of four additional charges laid by a second complainant.
In June 2024, Turgeon pleaded guilty to a separate charge of making sexually explicit material available to a minor.
Tuesday morning, Turgeon was sentenced by Justice Brian Dube to three years in prison, his name will be on the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) for 20 years and his DNA will be submitted to the law enforcement database.
“When a teacher is in a position of trust with students, any attempts at child sexual luring will be taken seriously,” assistant Crown attorney Jayme Lesperance said after Turgeon was taken into custody. “It’s incredibly important that parents can trust their children are safe at school.”
The defence had asked for a jail sentence of 12 to 18 months for Turgeon but Dube sided with Lesperance’s request for three years.
Defence lawyer Elizabeth Craig told CTV News Turgeon was “shocked” by the prison term.
Students report inappropriate teacher
In this case, two students came forward with allegations of inappropriate relationships during their time at Catholic Central High School between 2015 and 2019.
One of them told the jury he was struggling with his sexual identity, and he confided in Turgeon.
He alleged Turgeon offered to help him “experiment” during a private conversation.
“He (Turgeon) was pretty much offering to show sex activities,” the victim testified.
The victim also said Turgeon sent him sexually explicit images and videos during his time in high school.
Both the victim and the complainant came forward after Turgeon was charged with distributing an intimate image and communicating with a minor for the purpose of a criminal offence.
Online ‘vigilante’ reports Turgeon
Court learned Tuesday, in April 2021, Turgeon was using an online dating app meant for people over age 18.
He communicated with a person he believed to be 18.
However, even after the person admitted “I’m 15. I hope your not mad?”, Turgeon met the man at a parking lot in the city.
Described by Craig as a vigilante, the man then took photographs of Turgeon and his car and reported the interaction to police.
“It was a poor choice he (Turgeon) made,” Craig said to the judge.
She and assistant Crown attorney Craig Houle requested a jail sentence of eight months to be served after the prison term is up.
Justice Pamela Hebner agreed with their joint submission and sentenced Turgeon to eight months in jail, followed by three years probation when he gets out.
Because it was his second conviction and sentencing for sexual offences, Hebner ruled Turgeon’s name will now be on the sex offender registry for life.
Turgeon is also prohibited from being anywhere children or minors are, or might potentially be, communicating with minors nor can he work in any position which might interact with minors for 10 years after he gets out of jail.
At the time of his initial arrest for the vigilante offences, Turgeon was still working as a high school teacher; a position he has since lost.
At the time of his trial in 2024, Turgeon was no longer employed by the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board.
