Former Grenfell, Sask., teacher pleads guilty to sexually assaulting 15-year-old boy
A former rural Saskatchewan teacher has been sentenced to 18 months at the Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert.
Tori Lynn Peterson, 23, plead guilty in provincial court Tuesday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Her other charge of sexual interference was stayed.
Peterson was also ordered to provide a DNA sample, and to not own or use any guns for 10 years.
Regina police say they first received a report about a "sexual relationship" between Peterson and the boy in January.
According to her defence lawyer, Barry Nychuk, Peterson had just broken off an engagement to be married when — as per the agreed statement of facts — the 15-year-old admitted that he "instigated and initiated the sexual contact."
Nychuk told CBC News the boy was not Peterson's student at the time of the assault as she had been dismissed from her job by then.
In the fall of 2020, Peterson began teaching at the high school in Grenfell, Sask., roughly 125 kilometres east of Regina.
Following her arrest in February, the Prairie Valley School Division confirmed she was no longer employed there.
Still registered to teach in Sask.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board's website still listed Peterson as a registered educator until the end of August.
The regulatory board declined to comment on Peterson's case, but noted in a statement that when a teacher is involved in a police investigation and court proceedings, its processes are paused until the legal matters have concluded.
After a teacher is convicted, the regulatory board's professional conduct committee can report the conviction to its discipline committee.
"The discipline committee must then give the teacher an opportunity to be heard and if it finds that the conduct of the teacher giving rise to the conviction is misconduct, the discipline committee may make a penalty order," explained Trevor Smith, the board's chief operating officer and registrar, in an email.
A penalty order could lead to a teacher's certificate being reprimanded, suspended or revoked.
Nychuk said it's "highly unlikely" that Peterson will return to teaching after she completes her jail sentence.