New charge laid against Matthew Craswell over 2023 incident at West Kent Elementary
Charlottetown parent, child changed minds after originally declining police interview
WARNING: This story contains disturbing descriptions of child sex abuse. Resources and supports for anyone who has experienced sexual violence can be found at the bottom of this story.
A former P.E.I. substitute teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually touching a primary school student in a classroom is now facing a new charge over a different incident at West Kent Elementary School in Charlottetown.
Matthew Craswell was first charged last summer and pleaded guilty in April in relation to an incident that happened in 2024 at Glen Stewart Primary School in the town of Stratford, just east of the P.E.I. capital.
In the weeks that followed, CBC News uncovered more details about a similar incident at West Kent in 2023 — including the fact that one child's parent believed police had been told about the complaint when they hadn't.
On Friday, Charlottetown Police Det.-Sgt. Darren MacDougall confirmed that Craswell had been charged Thursday over that incident, which allegedly took place on June 26, 2023.
"Anything like this, that impacts the community the way that a charge like this does, it requires exceptional diligence, I would say, for the comfort of the community and for many other reasons," MacDougall told CBC News.
"This particular file certainly has hit home with a lot of people in our community."
Parent, victim changed their minds
Craswell is newly charged with one count of sexual interference, which is the sexual touching of a person under the age of 16.
That's the same crime to which he pleaded guilty in April in connection with the Glen Stewart incident. The same day, he separately pleaded guilty to three unrelated child pornography charges.
Craswell has not yet appeared in court on the new charge. He has not entered a plea, and the allegation has not been proven in court.
However, an agreed statement of facts filed with the P.E.I. court when Craswell's previous charges were being dealt with makes reference to a second incident, in a section about his online activity and how he boasted about his crimes.
"During one conversation, [Craswell] alludes to sexually touching three other girls while teaching them," said the document. "This matter was investigated and the children's parents ultimately declined to allow them to participate in police interviews."
MacDougall said police did end up interviewing one alleged victim after Craswell's crimes made headlines this spring.
"The evidence that we collected supported the charge that's now before the courts," he said.
The police official said the new charge involves only one victim, but other charges could be laid if other alleged victims come forward and supporting evidence is available.
Schools did not go to police in 2023 or 2024
Parents of children in both the 2023 West Kent and 2024 Glen Stewart incidents took their concerns to the respective schools after their children told them about the touching.
In both cases, the Public Schools Branch internally investigated the incidents — which it said involved reports of touching on the arms and stomach — and concluded they were not sexual.
Police and Child Protection Services were not called at the time.
The registrar who oversees teacher and substitute teacher licensing and discipline in the province also recently told a legislative committee he first learned about complaints involving Craswell through August 2024 media reports about his child pornography charges.
The PSB initially said the incidents were never connected within that organization because the branch didn't have an internal tracking system for staff complaints.
It later came out that a senior official with the Public Schools Branch did know about both incidents and no longer works there for that reason.
Police in touch with school and PSB
When MacDougall was asked if he had been in touch with West Kent and the PSB throughout this more recent investigation, he replied that he had.
"All organizations that I've been involved with in this investigation have been very co-operative with us," he said.
Craswell will make his first appearance on the new charge in August.
He is currently in jail and undergoing a sexual deviancy assessment in connection with the charges to which he's already pleaded guilty. That matter will be back before the court in September.
There are resources and supports available to anyone who has experienced sexual violence:
- Victim Services P.E.I. / Queens and Kings County: 902-368-4582; Prince County: 902-888-8218
- Rise P.E.I. / Phone or text: 902-218-6143
- P.E.I. Rape and Sexual Assault Centre / Call: 902-368-8055 or 1-888-368-8055
- Here is a list of sexual assault centres, crisis lines and support services elsewhere in Canada.
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