Former teacher gets conditional term for sex crimes involving boys

A former teacher with the Halifax regional school board won’t be going to jail for sex crimes involving two teenage boys he tutored after school hours.

Ryan Patrick Nolan, 33, pleaded guilty in October to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy by grabbing his penis while he slept and to a charge of exposing his genitals to another boy under the age of 16.

On Friday, a Halifax provincial court judge accepted a joint recommendation from lawyers for a one-year conditional sentence, followed by a year’s probation.

Nolan will be on house arrest for the first nine months of the sentence. He will have to observe a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the next three months.

The Halifax man was ordered to provide a sample of his DNA for a national data bank and to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Judge Bill Digby also prohibited him from working or volunteering in a position of trust with children under 16 for a period of 10 years.

Nolan was employed with the school board from 2008 to 2011, primarily as a substitute teacher.

He coached the boys hockey team at Bedford Junior High School in 2009 and did some coaching in the Bedford and District Minor Hockey Association.

Nolan has also worked as a summer camp counsellor in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and was employed with a cruise line that sailed out of Florida.

He was arrested last December after an 18-year-old told his parents that he had been abused by his tutor at the age of 14. The other complainant came forward last January after hearing about the charges against Nolan in the news.

Both offences were committed at Nolan’s apartment between September 2008 and June 2010.

The boys were former students of Nolan’s at the time, Crown attorney Peter Dostal said. Their identities are protected by publication bans.

The Crown withdrew other charges against Nolan, including an allegation of Internet luring involving a third boy. In an email to The Chronicle Herald, that boy’s mother called Nolan’s punishment a slap on the wrist.

But Dostal and defence lawyer Elizabeth Buckle told the court the recommended sentence was in the appropriate range.

Dostal emphasized that the agreement saved the sexual assault victim from testifying and being subject to cross-examination.

“An agreement has brought some certainty to the case and will guarantee protections to the public, including future potential victims, by putting Mr. Nolan under as much supervision as possible,” the prosecutor said.

The Criminal Code has been amended since Nolan committed the offences. Sexually assaulting a child now carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 90 days in jail.

Source: thechronicleherald