Former BC school teacher given conditional sentence for possession of child porn

A man who worked as an elementary school teacher in the Delta School District in Surrey, BC will serve an 18-month conditional sentence for the possession of pornography depicting minors.

Elazar Reshef, 53, had been charged with two counts of making or publishing child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Reshef was sentenced in Surrey provincial court on Friday, although an investigation into the teacher had been ongoing since March 2019, after the RCMP's Internet Child Exploitation [ICE] Unit caught wind from his electronic service provider that an account user was in possession of child porn.

Peace Arch News reports that the Surrey RCMP is the "first detachment in B.C. to have set up its own ICE unit, dedicated to protecting children from harm."

Although no children from the BC have yet been identified as victims, RCMP Corporal Joanie Sidhu alerted the public , given Reshef’s status as a teacher.

“Elazar Reshef has been in direct contact with children during his work as a teacher in the Delta School District,” Sidhu noted last summer. “As a result, the Surrey RCMP are releasing this information in the interest of public safety and to further the police investigation.”

“It is important for parents and caregivers to teach their loved ones that once an image or video has been sent to someone on social media or in a chat, they no longer have control over who sees it next,” said Corporal Danielle Pollock of the Surrey RCMP ICE. “Education is the best tool against online exploitation.”

Anyone who may have information that could assist in this investigation is implored to contact ICE investigators at 604-599-0502.