Former Waterloo, Ont. school principal pleads guilty to luring, sending sexually explicit material

Northlake Woods Public School in Waterloo, Ont. on Nov. 15, 2024. (Dan Lauckner/CTV News)

Warning: This story contains disturbing and explicit sexual details.

 

A former elementary school principal in Waterloo, Ont. has pleaded guilty to charges that include luring and transmitting sexually explicit material to someone believed to be under the age of 16.

Phillip Sallewsky, 57, is expected to be sentenced in a London courtroom in January.

An agreed statement of facts described sexually explicit online conversations between a username and email address that was linked to Sallewsky’s phone, with two separate accounts that identified themselves as a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl.

The “teens” were actually two undercover police officers.

The user, who went by the names “Sam” or “Chuck,” told the “teens” he was a teacher. He also indicated he was 50 years old.

The user also sent a photo of his face to one of the “teens.” Police soon matched it to a driver’s license photo belonging to Phillip Sallewsky of Kitchener, Ont.

When officers did an online search of his name, they found Sallewsky listed as the principal of Northlake Woods Public School in Waterloo.

The agreed statement of facts also detailed the sexualized conversations between the user and the two teen personas created by police, beginning on Feb. 14, 2023 and continuing into the following weeks. During that time, the user sent nude photos, including one of his penis that appeared to have been taken at a workplace.

The agreed statement of facts also said Sallewsky sculpted two wooden penises, carved with the names of the girls he thought he was talking to. Images of the wooden penises had also been sent to both “teens.”

In early March, the user told one of the “teens” he would be at a hockey arena in London, Ont. Police went there and took photos of Sallewsky, including ones of him using his phone. The user sent a photo of his face to both teen personas, and the clothing he was wearing matched what Sallewsky had on that day.

Sallewsky also made arrangements to meet both “girls” separately. He was arrested at the site of one of these planned meetings, the Burlington Go Train station, on March 30, 2023.

Court heard that subsequent search warrants were executed at Sallewsky’s home and the school where he worked. One of the wooden penises was found in his home. During the search warrant at the school, police were able to confirm Sallewsky took and sent a photo of his penis from his office.

A subsequent search of Sallewsky’s iPhone revealed the account and email address used by “Sam” and “Chuck” were associated with the device. Northlake Woods Public School was also used several times as a login IP address for the email account.

Sallewsky has pleaded guilty in London court to two counts of transmitting sexually explicit material to someone who was, or believed to be, under the age of 16 for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence, two counts of luring a person, believed to be under the age of 16, for the purpose of facilitating an offence, and one count each of making written child pornography and transmitting written child pornography.

Crown Attorney Andrea Mason has asked for a sentence of six years while Sallewsky’s lawyer, Ron Ellis, requested two years in custody.

The judge is expected to hand down Sallewsky’s sentence on Jan. 14, 2025.

A spokesperson for the Waterloo Region District School Board confirmed to CTV News that Sallewsky is no longer an employee there. The school board did not provide the date on when his employment ended.