A teacher at a Cape Breton high school has been charged with child luring involving two teenage girls.
Cape Breton Regional Police say they launched an investigation after receiving information on June 9. The investigation led them to execute several search warrants and seize some electronic devices.
Police arrested a 40-year-old man at a Westmount residence Tuesday evening.
Jason David Pentecost has been charged with three counts of child luring for offences alleged to have taken place between Feb. 28 and June 10.
Police say the alleged offences involved a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl.
Pentecost is a math teacher at Sydney Academy.
Students at the school tell CTV News a substitute teacher has been filling in for Pentecost this week, but they weren’t sure why.
A spokesperson for the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board tells CTV News an employee at Sydney Academy is the subject of a criminal charge and wanted to assure parents and guardians that the employee is currently not at work.
Students and parents say they were shocked to learn about the allegations against the teacher.
"I'm a concerned parent, of course," said one mother. "I'm definitely concerned for my daughter’s safety and the safety of the school.”
"Oh, I got a sick feeling, a sick, sick, feeling," says grandparent Margie Macintyre. "It's terrible."
Pentecost was released from police custody on a number of conditions, including not to have any contact with the alleged victims, not to be within 500 feet of any high school in Nova Scotia, and not to communicate with anyone under the age of 18 through social media or other electronic means.
Pentecost is due to appear in Sydney provincial court on Aug. 14.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.
