All charges against the former Regina teacher accused of sexually exploiting a female student have been dropped

A former Regina high school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student was acquitted Tuesday of all five charges he faced, Regina’s Court of King’s Bench confirmed to CTV News.

Jeffery G. Dumba, now 52, ​​was charged with charges including luring, sexual exploitation and making sexually explicit material available to someone under the age of 16.

The alleged offenses are said to have occurred in the summer of 2021, after Dumba and the student, who attended the school where he worked, began communicating on the social media platform Snapchat.

Their communication is said to have developed into sexual images that were exchanged both via the app and via iPhone messages.

The trial against Dumba has been running since June this year.

He was initially arrested in 2021 after police were notified of the alleged relationship.

Digital evidence found on a laptop, Apple Watch and two cellphones included explicit images exchanged between two different Snapchat user IDs, believed to belong to the student and the accused.

During the course of the trial, the court heard testimony from police officers, the victim, the victim’s mother and Dumba himself.

Closing arguments were heard in October, where Dumba testified that he was unaware of the student’s age and claimed she told him she was twenty years old.

Dumba’s defense also argued that the 15-year-old “sought out the (then) 49-year-old teacher,” something the girl’s mother said in June she believed had occurred.

The student allegedly had two Snapchat accounts and usernames, one of which later became her real first and last name. Dumba had a username that was different from his first names because he said it prevented his students from finding him on social media.

During closing arguments, the defense argued that the student lied because he did not know who the teacher was before communicating on Snapchat.

“She portrayed herself as a victim afterwards, but that’s not what’s going on… I think it’s pretty clear that she felt good about what she had done and kind of bragged about this kind of relationship that she had with Mr. Dumba . .” the defense said in October, adding that the student was a “very convincing liar.”

The Crown argued that Dumba had not taken enough steps to verify the student’s age.

“She does not hide her identity from him when she communicates with him on Snapchat using the username (first and last name of the alleged victim) and when she sends him photos with pictures of her face… he knows people lie about their age on social media, because he lied about his age on social media,” the Crown said during closing arguments.

In June, the court heard a recording of a preliminary police interview from September 2021, which included a conversation between the student and her mother.

The following dialogue took place between the two:

Mother: “You understand how wrong this is, right?”

Victim: “Yes, but it’s my fault.”

Mother: “Can I ask why you think it’s your fault?”

Victim: “I added him (on Snapchat).”

Mother: “Did you know who he was when you added him?”

Victim: “No, but I added it.”

The student’s mother further testified that she was “guilty” because she felt her daughter bore some of the responsibility for the situation.

Dumba maintained his innocence throughout the trial, pleading “not guilty” to all five charges he faced.

— With files from Hallee Mandryk