BURST
A Vancouver Island high school teacher has been banned for 10 years after using a dating app to arrange a meet-up with a man posing as a teenage boy to conduct a predator sting.
Carlos Deni Pavan was teaching in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district in March 2023 when the social media exchanges began.
He logged onto Grindr as “Big Bear” and began chatting with a user with no age listed who soon told Pavan he was a 14-year-old boy. It was in fact a man posing as a teen to try to out predators.
A consent resolution agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation posted online Tuesday, Pavan admitted his behaviour was “conduct unbecoming” and a violation of the Teacher Act.
A lengthy series of texts was included in the signed agreement. The exchange began after Pavan made initial contact with the “youth”:
Pavan: Hey there
Youth: Heyy
Pavan: How goes?
Youth: It’s ok just checking things out
hru [how are you?]
Pavan: Pretty decent, thanks
What brings you on Grindr?
Youth: Well I’m 14 so friends and maybe more idk
Pavan: Is that really you in you pic?
Youth: Ya
Pavan: Do you have any more pics?
Youth: Ya but I’m not sending any dirty stuff
Pavan: Lol… I wasn’t asking
I don’t wanna go to jail
Youth: Ok
Pavan: Are you going to send any?
Youth: Ya sure
The youth sends another picture as the chat continues, then:
Pavan: So you’re here to make friends with older gay guys?
Youth: Ya pretty much
Pavan: Seems kinda odd…
Youth: Why that
Pavan: You don’t think
Youth: Idk I’ve met other guys off here before
Kinda want a bf
Pavan: But you’re 14
Youth: Ya so
Pavan: You don’t like guys your own age?
Youth: Ya sometimes but I like older guys
Pavan: Ok
Youth: Ya
Pavan: Do you just not tell anyone?
Seems like something your family and friends would frown on…
Or call the cops! [emoji of person shrugging]
Youth: Ya I don’t want any one to know I’m gay I keep it a secret
Pavan: What school do you go to?
Youth: I’m in alternate I do it online
Pavan: How come?
Are you a bad kid?
Youth: No I don’t think so
Pavan: I thought alternate was for bad kids It was in my day
Youth: Oh nah I’m just behind abit I’m pretty shy I don’t think I’m a bad kid
They keep texting for a while then Pavan says he’s thinking about going for a walk and suggests the youth join him:
Pavan: Maybe you should go for a walk too…
Youth: Maybe ya
Pavan: Maybe?
Youth: Why are u inviting me
Pavan: Do you want me to?
Youth: Do you have pics I’m down but I’m still kinda nervous
Pavan: No pressure [sends an expiring photo of his face]
More chatting, then the idea of a walk gets specific:
Pavan: Where would you go on your walk?
Youth: Idk probably somewhere to get munchies tbh
Canco is close to me and they have slushies
Pavan: On the highway?
Youth: Ya
Pavan: Ok. Think you’re up for it? Or too nervous?
Youth: I’m not that nervous anymore I just wish my phone didn’t crash
Pavan: Sorry bud
Youth: Its sketchy there so I don’t wanna wait without knowing who I’m meeting
Pavan: Fair enough
Your call
Youth: Why can’t u send a pic
Pavan: Too risky
Youth: Why’s that
Pavan: There’s like vigilantes and cops
I dunno if you’re real
Youth: Really I don’t like cops I’m not gonna tell on u
Pavan suggests they pick a place “less sketchy” for the meet-up and the “youth” starts telling him he’s worried he’ll get robbed or hurt and tells Pavan he’s had a bad experience before on Grindr. The teen decides against a meeting and says good night.
The agreement notes the time Pavan was suggesting they go for a walk was after midnight.
The next day, Pavan spots the same user online at about 8:40 p.m. and makes contact again. He asks if the “youth” has met up with people on Grindr before:
Youth: Ya a few
Pavan: What’d you do with them when you met?
Youth: Uhh stuff nothing too crazy
Pavan: I’m just trying to figure out what you’re comfortable with /looking for
Youth: Oh okay what did you want to do?
Pavan: I’m pretty open
Youth: Me too just shy I guess
Pavan: Got plans tonight?
Youth: Nah
Pavan: Want me to try sending a pic again? …
Pavan and the youth chat a bit more then Pavan sends a photo:
Youth: Oh nice I like the beard
Pavan: Thanks
So do you want to go for a drive or something?
Youth: Maybe later ya that’s ok
Pavan: K
Pavan checks in again after about 30 minutes, asking “So… Like, how late are we talking?”
A day later, another exchange started by Pavan begins a little after 8 p.m., with Pavan asking if the youth got his later messages:
Youth: No what did you say
Pavan: I was just apologizing for being paranoid
I’m not sus. No cap. [laughing emoji with tongue out]
Pavan suggests they use text messaging instead of Grindr because the youth has been complaining it’s crashing on his phone, and they continue to text until the youth says he is going to bed.
Pavan again texts the youth and they chat for a while on the following two afternoons. Pavan suggests they “grab a coffee and go to the waterfront or something?”
After much back and forth, they agree to meet at a Tim Hortons. When Pavan arrives shortly after 10 p.m., he is confronted by the man who’d been posing as a teen and Pavan drives off.
The man captures this on video and later posts it on Facebook, along with the Grindr chats and text messages. Pavan is identified as a teacher on Facebook, and the school district fires him immediately.
The commissioner investigated and added seven years to Pavan’s teaching ban after he had already been suspended for three years, for a total of 10 years.