Parents in Kamloops, B.C., were shocked to learn Friday that a man arrested and charged in connection with several obscene and explicit letters targeting young girls lived within a few hundred metres of an elementary school.
Lowell James Swetman, 45, was charged Friday with distribution of child pornography, criminal harassment and mailing obscene materials.
Seven letters were sent to five schools in the area over a two-week period. All the letters contained sexually-graphic content, Kamloops RCMP officials said.
Police said they got a break after releasing a photograph of an envelope containing one of the letters. Someone recognized the handwriting.
Standing outside the Kamloops courthouse Friday, Swetman's mother, Margaret, insisted he would never hurt a child.
"I'm sure he didn't. He's not the type," she said.
She said she lives with her son and that he has never been married.
"He hasn't been very happy lately," she said.
Police said Swetman does not have a criminal history.
The Swetmans' home is located just a few hundred metres away from Parkcrest Elementary School.
Neighbour Adeline Chiupka, who has an eight-year-old child, said she was stunned to hear the news of his arrest.
"You have somebody living across the street, you don't know. ... I'm floored," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
