Teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with students dies in custody
Shannon Quinn, also known as Shannon Greffe, died in hospital following brief battle with cancer, lawyer says
WARNING | This story contains explicit language.
Shannon Quinn, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to having sex with two 17-year-old students and had not yet been sentenced, has died in custody.
She died March 12 under supervision in hospital after falling ill with cancer, according to her defence lawyer Sean May, who had spoken with her family.
It was "very tragic, fast and aggressive," May said.
At the Ottawa Courthouse on Wednesday morning, Quinn's case was abated by death by Ontario Court Justice Michael Boyce, after assistant Crown attorney Stephen Albers shared the news.
The Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed that a woman inmate of the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre died in hospital March 12. The ministry declined to comment further.
In custody for breaching bail conditions
Quinn had been released from custody on bail under strict conditions after being charged by Ottawa police in 2023, but her bail was revoked after she was seen at an ice rink without her sureties on two separate occasions.
She had been ordered not to be around minors unless accompanied by a surety.
On Jan. 22, she pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation for having penetrative sex with two boys while being in a position of trust or authority over them. The identities of the victims are shielded by a publication ban.
Quinn had been a teacher with the Ottawa Catholic School Board prior to charges being laid. Her teaching status on the Ontario College of Teachers website was listed as inactive/non-practising as of April 2024.
Personal discussions turned flirtatious
According to an agreed statement of facts read in court by Albers in January, Quinn began to discuss issues involving her personal life and an ex-boyfriend with a student. The discussions started during lunch, then moved online and to text messages.
One day she texted him during class and invited him to her home. She picked him up at the home of a friend of his, and after they arrived at her home she had sex with him.
Nearly a month later she again had sex with the teen at her home — and later that night she had sex with the same teen and a friend of his.
Again, nearly a month later, Quinn had sex with the first teen in her car in a parking lot. After, she sent him a text that read: "So is that all we're doing, is using each other to f--k?"
The teen became "less responsive" to Quinn after this incident, Albers told court. She sent him 32 messages that went unreturned until he asked for time alone. She later sent him messages saying she missed him and wanted to see him, and he didn't reply.
Assessments had been ordered
"Many of Ms. Quinn's text messages throughout the entire period ... are the kind one would expect in a romantic relationship," Albers said.
"At times she sought solace from [him] when things were not going well in her life, at other times she was flirtatious, and still other times she expressed jealousy at finding out that [he] had been hanging out with girls his own age."
Quinn was arrested in August 2023.
After the facts were read in court in January, Boyce ordered a psychiatric assessment and a sexual behaviours assessment on Quinn.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for March 3 but did not proceed. The maximum sentence for sexual exploitation is 14 years in prison, and the minimum is one year in jail.
At the end of Wednesday's short proceeding, Boyce asked an associate of Quinn's defence lawyer to "please send my condolences to Ms. Quinn's family."
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