Photo: Colin Dacre
A Kelowna piano teacher has been charged with child sex crimes and police believe there may be additional victims.
Neil Nein-Nein Wong, 54, was charged last month with sexual assault and sexual interference over allegations that he sexually assaulted a child student over an eight-month period in 2021.
RCMP say their child abuse unit in Kelowna opened an investigation into the claims on Feb. 17, 2021. The incidents are alleged to have occurred when the child was taking piano lessons at the teacher’s home.
Wong was arrested the next day and released on conditions to have no contact with anyone under the age of 16. On March 3, the teacher appeared in court to have the release conditions changed.
Crown prosecutors approved charges against Wong on April 22. He is now expected to appear in court on June 16.
RCMP believe the piano teacher’s access to youth means there may be additional victims or people with more information.
Police say Wong offered private piano lessons which he taught out of his home. Parents would contact him through an email address and then later by phone to arrange the lessons. Investigators have learned Wong taught a number of students out of his home and he taught online as well. The total number of students is unknown at this time.
It appears Wong was formerly a licensed public schools teacher in the Central Okanagan. Archived articles from 2013 in the Kelowna Capital News and Daily Courier named him as the music teacher at Kelowna Secondary School.
Online court records show the BC Commissioner of Teacher Regulation was in court in August 2015 seeking a transcript of a previous court proceeding, and an application by Wong to decrease the term of a probation order.
The Commissioner of Teacher Regulation does not have any discipline notices related to Wong in its database, although it typically retracts the name of teachers involved in sexual offences to protect the students involved.
“We are asking families who have received piano lessons from Neil Wong to contact the Kelowna RCMP Child Abuse Unit at 778-940-2240 and quote file number 2022-9344,” states Cpl. Tim Russell of the Vulnerable Persons Unit.
“The Kelowna RCMP Child Abuse Unit are an embedded partner at the Child Advocacy Center which coordinates multifaceted investigations and is dedicated to supporting children and families in our Community”.