Former teacher pleads guilty

Photo: Bradley Furman

A former Mount Boucherie Secondary teacher pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including sexual exploitation, Thursday, and faces at least a one-year sentence. 

Bradley Furman was charged with sexual assault, two counts of sexual exploitation of a young person, luring a child and attempting to pervert justice, along with several charges of breaching previous bail conditions.

On Thursday, Furman pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation, attempting to pervert justice, and three counts of breach of undertaking.

In December, Crown prosecutor David Grabavac told the Kelowna court he had offered Furman a “resolution proposal,” or a plea deal, rather than go to trial. The details of the deal are unknown, but it appears to have been reached, as the Crown plans to drop the other five charges Furman faces at the conclusion of sentencing.

Sexual exploitation is defined as having sexual contact, or inviting sexual contact, with a young person when the older person is in a position of trust or authority. A young person is defined as being 16 or 17 years old.

The Crown is proceeding by indictment on the sexual exploitation charge, which means it will carry a minimum sentence of one year. 

One of the three breach charges Furman pleaded guilty to was related to breaching a no-contact order last September, while the other two are from breaching a no contact order in May and another bail condition in June. 

Furman has been on 24-hour house arrest since October. While the circumstances of the allegations are unknown at this time, the details are expected to come out during sentencing. He was a teacher at the West Kelowna school until May of last year. 

The Crown is seeking a pre-sentence report with a psychiatric component that will include an assessment of his risk to reoffend. Furman is scheduled to next appear in court May 14.