A former Calgary teacher, who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of sex crimes against children, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Christian Sarile, 29 years old, was originally charged with 49 offences including sexual assault, sexual interference, accessing child pornography, distributing child pornography, luring and extortion.
The former teacher showed no emotion as the judge read his decision to a full courtroom.
Justice Earl Wilson described Sarile as ‘evil,’ ‘manipulative,' and a danger to ‘our children and community' as he handed down his sentence Friday morning in a Calgary courtroom.
“He had some sort of sixth sense for each child’s vulnerability,” said Justice Wilson.
The court heard during the trial that Sarile used fake names to pose as a high school student and make contact with girls between the ages of 12 and 16 online. He then convinced them to perform sexual acts in exchange for money, gifts and alcohol.
It also heard that he used nude photos and videos of his victims as leverage to coerce them into more illegal activity.
Two of the victims spoke in court last month about their inability to be happy about anything and how the loss of trust in their teacher impacted their ability to get help.
"This is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life," says original primary investigator on file
Police were first notified about Sarile when the family of a 14 year old girl contacted police in December 2016, concerned about their daughter meeting a man in his 20s.
“This was a concerned grandfather who called in some suspicious activity with his granddaughter, which started this whole investigation," said Calgary Police Service Sgt. Mark Weir.
Weir, the primary detective assigned to the investigation, spoke to the media after the sentencing hearing.
"Thankfully he made that phone call that got this all started or we may not even be here right now," he said. "I think we had that feeling that something wasn’t right here and it was just continuing to follow up with more witnesses, doing more interview."
In total, 26 victims came forward, who all claimed to have had contact with Sarile.
“It was very draining on a lot of kids, a lot of investigators, even the Crown. A lot of families are very relieved that their kids can close the book that they've been going through. Some of them, for the last three years,” said Jason Smith, a detective with the CPS Child Abuse Unit.
Both police officers spoke about the potential risks associated with social media use for minors after the sentencing and the importance for parents to be aware what their children are doing online.
"Make sure you have that relationship where you can talk to them and have open communication. Make sure they’re open coming to you if they have a concern or are scared,” said Weir, who now works with youth to help prevent them from becoming victims of online abuse.
The Crown had sought 18 years in jail for Sarile. During a previous sentencing hearing, Sarile's defence lawyer asked the judge to consider his guilty plea and his financial hardships at home when considering the sentence.
Sarile will serve just under 14 years with credit for time already served.
