Montreal private-school teacher Richard Doucet, who was arrested in May 2008 by police in Fredricksburg, Va., was sentenced to 14 years in a Virginia prison for sex crimes involving children. (Stafford County Sheriff's Office)

A former teacher at an elite Montreal prep school was sentenced in Stafford, Va., Monday to 14 years in a U.S. prison for sex crimes involving children.

Richard Doucet, 37, was arrested by Virginia police in May 2008 at a hotel where he was expecting to meet a teenage boy.

Up until the time of his arrest, Doucet had been a teacher at Selwyn House, a private boys' school in Montreal's wealthy Westmount neighbourhood.

He pleaded guilty in May 2009 to eight charges, including reproducing and distributing child pornography, attempting to take indecent liberties with a child and soliciting a minor for sexual activities.

The judge at the Stafford County circuit court said the case was one of the worst the court had ever seen.

Doucet, who had taught at Selwyn House since 1999, told the court that the past 15 months in prison were a "blessing" as they have allowed him time to reflect upon his actions. He apologized to the court as well as to his family and friends for his "shameful" actions.

But his legal hurdles are far from over. Doucet still faces related charges in nearby Prince William County and will also be sentenced Aug. 14 by a court in Fredericksburg, Va., where he has already pleaded guilty to 25 child-pornography charges.

In that district, Doucet could be sentenced to a maximum of 125 years in prison with no chance of parole.

According to the police detective in Dumfries, Va., who posed online as a 13-year-old boy to lure Doucet, the teacher had many sexually explicit web chats with the person he thought was a teenage boy in the months leading up to his arrest.

Det. John Chapman said he and Doucet talked online about playing a game of miniature golf in which the loser would perform a sex act on the winner.

Chapman has also said Doucet emailed him nude photos of boys, some of whom appeared to be as young as 12.

He and Doucet planned to meet up at the Hilton Garden Inn in Fredericksburg, but instead of a boy, Doucet was met by police.

Thousands of photos of nude children were allegedly found on a school laptop and compact disc that police seized from his hotel room.

With files from The Canadian Press