Former Grade 8 Port Hope teacher Kelly-Anne Jennings has been sentenced to four years in a penitentiary.
As previously reported, the Peterborough native pleaded guilty to distributing explicit material to a minor, invitation to sexual touching, making child pornography and child luring, earlier this month.
"These were crimes of sexual violence against children," Justice Nathan Baker said in Lindsay on Thursday before Jennings was taken into custody. "They have profound effects on the victims of this case that I've heard through the victim impact statements, but also on the future of the community."
The 41-year-old St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School teacher, was first charged with one count each of sexual interference and sexual assault on Aug. 21 last year over incidents that took place in 2023.
Jennings came under investigation after a male student told his mother about inappropriate physical contact with Jennings during a class trip. An additional three complainants came forward, leading to further charges, according to Port Hope Police.
During police interviews with the victims, detectives learned the communication with each of the young male victims began while they were students and escalated when they were in high school.
Jennings told the first victim, who was under the age of 16 at the time, that her husband had cheated on her and she was drunk. "They continued talking, and then later on in the night the accused sent the victim a picture of her breasts, totally nude," the agreed statement of facts reads.
Before deleting Jennings from Snapchat because he didn't want anymore contact with her, the victim sent her a shirtless photo at which point Jennings told the teen to "show me more."
A second victim felt he could talk to Jennings about personal troubles and they would communicate through Snapchat while he was still her student, court heard. The communication continued while he was in high school.
When he was 15, Jennings started to gradually send him more revealing Snapchat photos. The photos escalated to the point of Jennings sending the teen naked photos and videos of herself masturbating.
"The victim asked why the accused was doing this and sending these nude photos and the accused would explain that she is going through hard times and would explain the problems she was having with her husband and that she needed someone," the facts read.
Jennings then encouraged the victim to send nude photos and videos of himself masturbating. "The accused told the victim that if he told anyone she would lose her job and her children," the facts stated.
The third victim, under 18, told police he and Jennings exchanged explicit photos as well, and he had them saved on his phone. "The accused said things like, 'yes I love it, I want to see more,'" the facts read.
In addition to her prison sentence, Jennings will have to register as a sex offender.
