A former Saskatoon high school teacher and ex-Saskatoon Hilltop, Rhett Lundgren has been sentenced to three years in prison for child pornography and child exploitation offences. The 41-year old pleaded guilty in Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench Monday morning before being sentenced in the afternoon. Crown prosecutor, Lana Morelli says it was a joint-submission between the crown and defence and that it was an appropriate sentence for Lundgren. The former teacher at Walter Murray Collegiate was arrested in December of 2016 following an investigation by the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit after he was caught having an online conversation with an undercover officer. In the conversation, Lundgren clicked on multiple links sent by the officer that contained child pornography. The officer also chatted with Lundgren about his imaginary 8 year-old niece. The two then made plans to go to a swimming pool with the 8 year-old and Lundgren suggested he would touch and expose himself near the girl, although the former teacher didn’t attend and instead tried to reschedule the plans for another day. Shortly after that, Lundgren was arrested. Child pornography was found on Lundgren’s laptop which included both photos and videos. The children ranged in age from 2 to 14 years old. During the court process, Lundgren admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 17 year-old student while he was teaching in Red Deer in 2009. The two communicated through Facebook messenger for three months which eventually turned into phone calls, seeing each other daily and having consensual sex. In 2016 while teaching at Walter Murray in Saskatoon, Lundgren was suspended without pay after being charged. Lundgren had previously pleaded guilty in November of last year.

Below is a photo containing some of Lundgren’s Facebook conversation with the then 17 year-old from 2009.