Former Ontario principal handed 4-year prison sentence in undercover child exploitation sting

A former Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will serve four years behind bars after pleading guilty last year to child sexual exploitation and child pornography offences.

It stems from a joint investigation involving police from London, Toronto and Waterloo.

Phillip Sallewsky, 57, appeared in a London courtroom on Tuesday for sentencing. The Crown had sought six years while the defence had asked for two.

The lawyer representing Sallewsky at the hearing, Stephen Troyer of London-based Ellis Criminal Law, declined to comment to CBC News about the outcome.

The former principal of Waterloo's Northlake Woods Public School had admitted to communicating online with two teenagers through Snapchat who he believed were 13 and 14 years old.

The teenagers were actually undercover police officers.

Police said Sallewsky shared sexually explicit text messages and pictures with the two officers beginning in February 2023, using multiple usernames, including Sam and Chuck.

Sallewsky was arrested in March 2023 at a Burlington GO Transit station where he had arranged to meet with one of the girls. He was later placed in London police study. He had also arranged plans to meet with the other girl.

Originally charged with 17 offences, Sallewsky entered guilty pleas last year to six, including two of transmitting sexually explicit material to a person under 16, two of luring a person under 16, and one each of making and transmitting written child pornography.

The crimes pleaded to occurred in London, according to the Waterloo Region Record. Sallewsky messaged the teens from his home, a hockey arena and his school office, the report says.

Sallewsky had been a registered member of the Ontario College of Teachers since 1992. He graduated from Western University with a Bachelor of Education that year, and received a Master of Education from Brock University in 2001.

His certificate of qualification and registration with the college was listed as "Cancelled - Resigned" as of April 24, 2023.