A BC teacher who arranged to meet up with what he thought was a 14-year-old boy through the Grindr app has been banned from teaching for seven years.

According to Sept. 29 BC Commissioner for Teaching Regulation, Vancouver Island high school teacher Carlo Deni Pavan thought he was meeting the 14-year-old, but instead was caught in a creep catcher-style sting.

The decision said Pavan was teaching for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District in 2023, when he began messaging someone through Grindr using the name Big Bear.

The person on the other end said they were a 14-year-old youth, and Pavan replied in one message, “I don’t wanna go to jail.”

In another message, Pavan says, “So you’re here to make friends with older gay guys?” Before adding that “seems kinda odd.”

The high school teacher said nothing sexual to the supposed teen, who told Pavan he’s met other older men on the app.

“Do you just not tell anyone? Seems like something your family and friends would frown on… Or call the cops!,” Pavan replied.

At one point Pavan is asked for a photo of himself, but said it was too risky to send one.

“There’s like vigilantes and cops, I dunno if you’re real,” Pavan said.

Pavan asked to go for a walk with the teen, before later saying, “It’s this, or hit me up when you’re older.”

Altogether the pair messaged each other on five separate occasions.

“I’m just trying to figure out what you’re comfortable with/looking for,” Pavan said in one message.

After several days of messages the two agree to meet at a Tim Hortons.

Pavan pulled up in his car, and the person pretending to be a teen approached him filming.

“The Person posted on a Facebook site both the messages exchanged with Pavan and the video recording of the Person approaching Pavan in his car. Pavan was identified as a teacher on the Facebook site,” the decision read.

He was suspended soon afterwards before being fired by the school.

“In communicating with the youth in the manner that he did, and in asking to meet with the youth alone at night, Pavan failed to maintain appropriate boundaries,” the Commissioner said in the decision. “Pavan’s actions undermined the public’s confidence in the education system.”

Pavan signed a consent agreement admitting to his behaviour and was issued a seven-year ban from teaching.

It does not appear that Pavan is facing any criminal charges because of the events.