Mark Zana Former teacher at Kesterson Elementary faces 21 criminal counts

Several teenage girls testified in court Tuesday against a former Kesterson Elementary School teacher and said inappropriate touching occurred between the girls and their fifth-grade teacher, Mark Zana.

One girl, now 15, said that Zana, who often used candies as a reward for students, on one occasion asked her during class whether she wanted a Jolly Rancher. She answered yes, she said, and Zana told her to reach into his pocket.

"After I touched his penis, I grabbed a Jolly Rancher," the girl said before a room full of adults during Zana's preliminary hearing at Henderson Justice Court. The hearing is scheduled to resume Tuesday.

"I kind of looked at him, and he just kind of raised his eyebrows and smirked," she said of her teacher's response. "But he didn't stop me."

Zana, 37, was arrested in September and is charged with 21 criminal counts stemming from allegations he inappropriately touched students and possessed child pornography on his home computer.

A 13-year-old former student at the Henderson school offered a similar account involving Zana.

That student said she stuck her hand in Zana's pants pocket to play with his keys during reading time. Instead Zana guided her hand until it met his penis, she said.

As the girl spoke, her mother shifted in her seat, wiped tears from her eyes and let out an audible "Oh!"

"His neck was turning red," the girl said of Zana's reaction. "He said it tingled, or tickled, one of those words."

The girl, who no longer attends Kesterson, said she began sitting in the back of class during reading time to avoid Zana.

The girl testified she complained to the school's principal but did not mention touching Zana's genitals. Instead, she said, she told officials that she felt uncomfortable whenever Zana rubbed her legs, back and chest area.

The principal sought other students with similar complaints and addressed Zana's class about the matter, the girl said. But Zana remained at the school.

As his former students testified, they occasionally glanced at Zana, who wore a black suit and sat quietly.

Zana was hired by the Clark County School District in 1996, and in 1999, he transferred to Kesterson. Zana, a former gymnastics coach, was cast as a talented teacher who was popular with his students and threw pizza parties to honor top achievers. During reading group sessions, students would gather in a circle around Zana.

"Most of the time, the girls would race to the front to sit next to him," one girl testified.

Zana's defense attorney, Vince Consul, suggested jealousy on the part of male fifth-graders, not Zana's conduct, might have inspired rumors at Kesterson that Zana was a child molester. One girl said she believed jealousies had motivated the rumors.

Consul questioned each of the four girls to find contradictions between their testimonies and statements they made to police investigators.

Three of the teenage girls appeared shy and slightly nervous on the stand. But one former Zana student, who now lives in Colorado and set in motion the case against him, was testy toward her interrogator.

The 13-year-old girl smiled, yawned and glared at Zana. But she turned serious when Consul questioned her about an incident in September at her Colorado home, which she said had triggered her memory of Zana's inappropriate touching.

The girl's father came home one afternoon and discovered that, against family rules, she was alone with other guests, including teenage boys. As the father tried to enter the home, the youngsters tried to run away.

Consul asked the girl whether the teens were drinking alcohol or smoking pot.

"No!" the girl responded.

Consul asked what was it about the incident that triggered her claims against Zana. "Was is to get him (your father) away from being mad at you for what happened in the house?" the attorney asked.

The girl said her father was yelling, which scared her to tears.

"He thought that we were doing something ... and then that made me think about Mr. Zana's doing something to me," she said.

The girl had a friend tell her parents of allegations that Zana twice had placed his hand under her shirt and touched her in the chest area. One time he touched both nipples, she said.

The family went to Colorado police and later took their allegations to Henderson police, sparking the investigation.

Consul said that in the girl's initial report to police, she reported that Zana had touched her under her shirt and did not mention she had been touched on the breasts or nipples.

The Colorado teen told Clark County prosecutors that she might have seen 20 students or so reach into Zana's pockets during the school year. But when questioned by police, Consul said, the girl mentioned only one case when someone reached into Zana's pocket and said she recalled no other incidents.

One of the girls, when questioned by Consul, said that she had lied to police when they initially asked her about her contact with Zana in the classroom. She said in court that initially she thought that the allegations against Zana had been exaggerated and did not feel he had acted inappropriately toward her.

During a meeting with police, she at first withheld information about reaching into Zana's pocket. But she said she discussed the incident with her mother and changed her mind.

"I was trying to protect him, Mr. Zana, from getting into trouble because I trusted him," the 15-year-old girl said, fighting back tears. "I didn't think he would do something like that (the charges against him). But then I realized the situation I was in was wrong."