Charged dropped against ex Regina high school teacher accused of sexual exploitation of student

Jeffrey Dumba walks into the Court of King's Bench in this undated file photo. (Gareth Dillistone/CTV News)

A former Regina high school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old female student was acquitted on Tuesday of all five charges he faced, Regina’s Court of King’s Bench confirmed to CTV News.

Jeffery G. Dumba, now 52, faced charges including luring, sexual exploitation and making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16 years of age.

The alleged offences were said to have occurred in the summer of 2021 after Dumba and the female student, who attended the school where he was employed, began communicating on the social media platform Snapchat.

Their communications allegedly evolved to sexual images being exchanged on the app as well as through iPhone messages. 

Dumba’s trial had been ongoing since June of this year.

He was initially arrested in 2021 after police were made aware of the alleged relationship.

Digital evidence found on a laptop, Apple Watch, and two cell phones included explicit images which were exchanged between two distinct Snapchat user IDs, which were believed to belong to the student and accused.

Over the course of the trial, the court heard testimony from police officers, the victim, the victim’s mother and Dumba himself.

Closing arguments were heard in October, where Dumba testified he was not aware of the student’s age and claimed she told him she was 20-years-old.

Dumba’s defence also argued that the 15-year-old “sought out the [then] 49-year-old teacher," something the girl's mother said in June she believed had occurred. 

The student was said to have had two Snapchat accounts and usernames, with one later being her actual first and last name. Dumba had a username that was different from his given names because he said it helped keep his students from finding him on social media.

During closing arguments, the defence argued that the student was lying about not knowing who the teacher was prior to them communicating on Snapchat.

"She portrayed herself as a victim after the fact, but that's not what's going on ... I think its pretty clear that she felt good about what she had done and was sort of bragging about this sort of relationship she had with Mr. Dumba." the defence said in October, adding the student was a “very convincing liar.”

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The crown argued Dumba did not take enough steps to verify the student’s age.

"She's not concealing her identity from him if she's interacting with him on Snapchat using the username [first and last name of the alleged victim] and if she's sending him pictures that include pictures of her face ... he knows that people lie about their age on social media, because he lied about his age on social media," the crown said during closing arguments.

In June court heard a recording of a preliminary police interview from September 2021 that included a conversation between the student and her mother. 

The following dialogue was exchanged between the two: 

Mother: “You do understand how wrong this is, right?”

Victim: “Ya, but it’s my fault.”

Mother: “Can I ask why you think it’s your fault?”

Victim: “I added him [on Snapchat].”

Mother: “Did you know who he was when you added him?”

Victim: “No, but I added him.”

The student's mother went on to testify that she had "guilt" in feeling as though her daughter held a portion of responsibility for the situation.

Dumba maintained his innocence throughout the trial, and pleaded "not-guilty" to all five charges he faced.

-- With files from Hallee Mandryk