Vernon Courthouse

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - A North Okanagan gymnastics instructor facing child pornography charges will stand trial.

Chad Andrew McDowell, born in 1975, is accused of possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography and importing or distributing child pornography, all with an offence date of April 1, 2017. He faces no charges of creating child pornography.

McDowell appeared in Vernon court Thursday, Nov. 2, at which time he waived his right to a preliminary inquiry and was ordered to stand trial on the charges in Supreme Court.

McDowell elected trial by judge alone, according to the court registry. No date has been set for the trial.

Old recreation and culture guides show McDowell ran Kalamalka Acro & Tumbling out of Lumby between 2014 and 2016.

McDowell’s name also appears in an annual report from the North Valley Gymnastics Society, dated Oct. 17 2012. The report says he was hired in August 2012 to lead coaches and further develop the gymnastics programs, however according to a civil claim filed in Vernon Court in 2013, he was dismissed by the society just a few months later.

In the notice of claim, McDowell alleged he was subjected to a number of accusations regarding competency and molesting of children, and was wrongfully dismissed. Court documents show the gymnastic society denied his allegation of facts, and said he was dismissed with pay in lieu of notice. The case ended in July 2014 in favour of McDowell, who was awarded nearly $9,000 for severance pay. 

In a June 2017 interview, Deb Green, president of North Valley Gymnastics, said McDowell was only employed for about 17 weeks before being dismissed. She says the society had no further contact with him. 

None of the allegations against McDowell have been proven in court.

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News from © iNFOnews, 2017