Winnipeg man arrested on child pornography charges was teacher for 15 years: police

A Winnipeg man who was a teacher for more than a decade has been arrested for possession of child pornography, police say.

The arrest came after an investigation that began in January, whenpolice were alerted that an internet protocoladdress within Winnipeg was involved in uploading child sexual abuse imagery, according to a Friday news release from the city's police service.

Investigators later identified a suspect and home in the Seven Oaks neighbourhood linked to the IP address.

Police executed a search warrant on Wednesday, where they found child sexual abuse imagery and seized several electronic storage devices.

Alan Veness, 59, was arrested and charged with accessing and possessing child pornography as a result of the search, police said.

When contacted over the phone by CBC on Friday afternoon, Veness said he couldn't comment on the advice of his attorney.

Veness had been working as a teacher in various school divisions in Winnipeg and Manitoba for the last 15 years, according to police.

Minutes from a November 2021 Seven Oaks School Divisionboard meeting indicate he had been appointed to a substitute teacher contract with that division.

Superintendent Brian O'Learyconfirmed Veness waslisted as a substitute withSeven Oaks in 2021, but said there is no record of him actually working for the division as a substitute.

He isn't currently on the division's substitute teacher list,O'Leary said in an email.

Veness was also a substitute teacher for the Winnipeg School Division with "limited" placements, a spokesperson said. Hewas last employed by the division in 2014.

The Winnipeg Police Service's investigation is still open. Anyone with information they believe could help investigators is asked to contact 204-986-6172.