KW Glee, music school suspend employee over sexual assault charge
Two Kitchener-Waterloo music organizations have placed an employee on a leave of absence after he was charged in a historical sexual assault investigation.
Waterloo regional police arrested 52-year-old Steven Lehmann of Woolwich Township on April 10 and charged him with sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
Police said they received a report in March about an alleged sexual assault that took place between 2008 and 2009.
In a statement to CTV News, Renaissance School of the Arts in Waterloo said as soon as they learned of the allegations, they placed Lehamnn on an immediate leave of absence pending the outcome of the matter now before the courts.
“We were not aware of the alleged incident until now, and the allegations do not relate whatsoever to anyone at Renaissance School of the Arts. We care deeply about the well-being of our Renaissance community and will work to help support them as they process this news,” the school said.
According to a biography on the website for the band Amplified Midlife Crisis, Lehmann founded Renaissance Music Academy in 1993, which then grew into Renaissance School of the Arts.
It also says in spring of 2010, Lehmann started KW Glee, where he served as a producer, arranger, and music director.
KW Glee also said they placed Lehmann on an immediate leave of absence.
In a statement, they said the allegations took place before KW Glee existed.
“We have been advised that the organization is not implicated in the allegations,” KW Glee said.
Lehmann is expected to appear in court April 30.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
President Joe Biden calls Japan and India 'xenophobic' nations that do not welcome immigrants
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.