A teacher recently accused of committing sex crimes against six students at Stanislas College in Montreal allegedly contacted other minors while working in other schools. Alexandre Gagné would have told them to shoot pornographic films or look for models, according to testimonies obtained by The Press.
In mid-March, this teacher was accused of having committed sexual crimes against six students at the private Montreal establishment.
In particular, he would have sexually exploited a teenager while he was in a position of authority or trust, in addition to forcing her to send him photos of her. The five other underage victims were allegedly given sexually explicit material by the accused or were lured by him.
Over the past few weeks, The Press collected the testimonies of four other students who, with the exception of two, do not know each other and had Alexandre Gagné as a teacher in two other establishments: the Liberté-Jeunesse school in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac and Jean-Eudes College in Montreal. These testimonials are consistent with the professional career of Alexandre Gagné, which we were able to validate.
Alexandre Gagné’s modus operandi with these four students is similar to the one he would have deployed at Stanislas College in the context of these criminal charges, according to our information.
The four people who testified at The Press said they had been contacted by Alexandre Gagné on social networks. Three of them say that the teacher has described himself as an actor in pornographic films or as a model.
“I do not want to comment on these allegations,” replied Alexandre Gagné, joined by The Press at his home.
“This guy never stopped”
When he saw the economics teacher in the media recently, Vincent (not his real name) said he realized that Alexandre Gagné had behaved like this “for a long time”.
“I said to myself: this guy never stopped,” he testifies.
Vincent rubbed shoulders with this teacher when he was doing substitute teaching at the alternative public school Liberté-Jeunesse, in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac.
It was after leaving school, around 2007, that Alexandre Gagné contacted the young man, who was then 15 years old.
“I had long conversations with him on the MSN platform and many exchanges of explicit photos and videos when I was a minor and he was aware,” says Vincent, who adds that he received and sent photos in the context of these exchanges.
The conversations, says Vincent, often revolved around pornography, especially the role of “Kevin Morgan”, the supposed name of pornographic actor of Alexandre Gagné.
“He played a lot on it, on his role as a porn actor,” recalls the man.
It was only by meeting Alexandre Gagné by chance in the street a few years ago that these memories were “revived” in Vincent, now in his thirties.
“I was in my puberty, discovering access to pornography and [j’avais] an active participation in it, without ever being aware of the fact that it is child pornography”, he says.
A teacher from this school who rubbed shoulders with Vincent at the time of the events relates that he confided in her a few years ago about Alexandre Gagné.
“I never knew of anything when this teacher was at our school. Unfortunately. I would have reacted. It hurts me to know that other victims have been added over time,” she said.
The Mille-Îles school service center confirms that Alexandre Gagné was employed there from 2005 to 2007. “He then left his position within our organization of his own free will,” writes spokesperson Mélanie Poirier.
At Collège Jean-Eudes, where the teacher worked from 2007 to 2014, it is claimed that “former” students came forward after an email appeal following the charges against the teacher.
« […] is it justified, is it not, we directed them to the police services, ”explains Dominic Blanchette, director general of this private college.
Photos in “industrial quantity”
Alexandre Gagné was the geography teacher of Lucie (fictitious name) at Jean-Eudes College in Montreal, in 2011 and 2012.
“While we were at school, apart from being pretty friendly, it was not moved. I found him pleasant, he was young, dynamic, ”she says.
However, Lucie says that shortly after obtaining her diploma and when she was a minor, the teacher contacted her on Facebook.
“He started writing to me informally, talking about trivial matters. Quickly, he started talking to me about the fact that he was doing photoshoots “, she says.
She says she received photos of him in boxers in “industrial quantities”.
“He told me he had taken nude photos. [Les conversations] always revolved around the fact that I was young, but I was VIP and I had access to his photos,” says the 28-year-old woman, who claims that Alexandre Gagné “tried to [la] get on board” by making her dangle that she could also be part of a modeling agency.
PHOTO PROVIDED
Alexandre Gagné would have sent this photo of him to one of his former students at Jean-Eudes College.
The Press had access to some of these conversations, as well as a photo allegedly sent by the teacher of him wearing nothing but a bathing suit. The exchanges were spread over two years.
Two other students who attended Jean-Eudes high school during this period gave similar testimonies.
Simon (fictitious name) says he too was contacted by Alexandre Gagné on Facebook a few months after graduating from high school at Collège Jean-Eudes in 2012. He too describes the teacher as “ coolaccessible ».
Simon reports that on Facebook, the conversations were initially “nice”. But “quietly”, Alexandre Gagné would have started talking about pornographic films that he could shoot with his 17-year-old former student.
“He was describing a scene, which we could do together. It was an opportunity for me to become a porn actor like him and to sleep with girls. It was hijacked, but he wanted to see me naked, ”says Simon.
It is on Twitter that Judith says for her part that she was contacted by Alexandre Gagné, a few months after finishing high school, in 2012. “As soon as I graduated, maybe even two days before, he started to m ‘write,’ she says. She was not yet 17 years old.
“I never answered, but he sent me messages at 11 p.m., midnight…”, she recalls. La Presse has had access to these messages. The teacher does not make inappropriate comments.
“Like a sledgehammer”
Until very recently, Alexandre Gagné presented himself on Facebook as a “historian, journalist, columnist and pedagogue”. He deleted this account, just like the one on Twitter where he relayed international news.
The charges against him have echoed as far away as Rimouski, where until recently he wrote a column on international news on the CFYX radio station.
Host Michel Turcotte has known the local native for a long time. He describes him as someone “very competent” and “very rigorous”.
“Alex, he’s a guy straight, by the book and always prepared. His international chronicles are always very listened to. It was like a sledgehammer,” said Mr. Turcotte, who specified that Alexandre Gagné was replaced.
The director general of the Jean-Eudes college also says that the teachers were “stunned” to learn that charges of sexual exploitation had been filed against Alexandre Gagné.
In this establishment, the teacher’s disciplinary file is “virgin” and no denunciation took place during the seven years he worked there.
“It’s a big disappointment,” said Dominic Blanchette.
Alexandre Gagné has his teaching certificate, he also says, information that the Ministry of Education did not want to confirm.
After leaving the Jean-Eudes college, the teacher worked at the Notre-Dame college in Montreal, show documents and a testimony that we obtained. This establishment declined to comment on the matter, arguing that it is confidential information.
Joined by The Press, the Crown prosecutor in charge of the Gagné case did not want to comment, given the criminal charges already laid. However, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions invites anyone who believes they have been a victim of Alexandre Gagné to contact the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal.
“We take these allegations very seriously and any witness will be met seriously,” said Mr.e Anna Levin, criminal and penal prosecuting attorney.
With the collaboration of Louis-Samuel Perron, The Press
