A B.C. school principal was handed a 15-year teaching ban after being caught sending explicit messages to a person he believed to be teenage boy.
Mark Louis Pierotti was the head of Aspengrove School in Lantzville, B.C., in August 2022 when he made contact with a man on Grindr who was posing as a youth, according to a consent resolution agreement posted online this week by the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.
The unnamed person, according to the decision, had set up the account on the dating site to snare sexual predators and introduced himself to the independent school administrator through a profile that listed him as 21.
When asked, however, the person would tell prospective dates he was 15 years old.
That’s something Pierotti learned as they first made contact in the creep catcher-styled sting, and he reached out with the line, “Hello, there, sexy.”
Pierotti invited him over for a drink and the person then said he was only 15 years old.
Pierotti asked if that answer was “for real” and then the two continued to chat.
Pierotti said he thought the person was 21 and just messing around with him.
“I can’t connect with a 15-year-old. 21. Yes. That’s who I hit up,” Pierotti said, according to a transcript of the conversation, published in the decision.
“So. You 21. I just don’t wanna go to prison. So is it 21? I won’t serve alcohol to anyone under 20. Wanna connect and chat then?”
The next day the conversation got underway again and Pierotti asked the person if he liked to make out.
“I’ve been crazy horned up since the guy cancelled last night so don’t want this to be uncomfortable. Might be so maybe it’s not good,” Pierotti said.
He then pointed out that the age of consent in B.C. is 16 years old and asked when the person would be 16. He was told it would be another four months.
“You know. Better not. You are too young and it’s not legal. So when ur of age let me know. I can come hi and we can meet just so you know I’m not a jerk,” Pierotti said.
According to the document, Pierotti wrote that he assumed that the person had hooked up with “older guys before.”
“I’m on my way. We can talk and go from there,” Pierotti said.
The commissioner for teachers said minutes after sending that message, Pierotti drove to the prearranged meeting place and the person approached his vehicle. He drove away as the person walked up to the vehicle on the driver’s side, filming all the way.
The video was then posted on a Facebook site and Pierotti was fired Aug. 27, 2022.
In October of 2022, the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decided that the 15-year suspension was the right way forward and Pierotti agreed.
Pierotti’s conduct, and the fact that his actions became public through the Facebook post, undermined public confidence in the education system, the commissioner said.