NLV teacher faces more child molestation charges

As state officials explore a new legal option to temporarily dismiss educators suspected of student sex abuse, local prosecutors filed nearly two dozen additional charges of child molestation against an elementary school teacher arrested last month in North Las Vegas.

The district attorney’s office now alleges Jeremiah Mazo, 54, in­appropriately touched seven different children on at least 32 occasions, up from the original 10 incidents that an 8-year-old female student reported to investigators.

In April, North Las Vegas police arrested Mazo, a longtime music instructor with the Clark County School District, after he admitted to two of those incidents with the girl.

An amended criminal complaint filed in North Las Vegas Justice Court on Tuesday did not provide a timeline for the additional offenses. But the 8-year-old previously told police that Mazo had touched her multiple times since the school year started in August.

In court on Tuesday, Chief Deputy District Attorney James Sweetin noted the ongoing investigation into Mazo likely would yield even more charges of student sex abuse as more families come forward with similar allegations.

Mazo first joined the district as a music teacher in 2003 and has since taught at several elementary campuses, including Hayes and Woolley in Las Vegas and Cozine and Simmons in North Las Vegas. His latest position at Hayden Elementary School, near Centennial Parkway and Commerce Street, started six years ago.

“As a teacher, he had the opportunity and access to young children and he touched them — at least one — in in­appropriate ways,” Sweetin said. “In fact, when he was prompted by the police, he admitted to that.

“He essentially told the police why (he) did this was temptations (and) bad choices,” Sweetin added. “The defendant has issue with his contact with children. He poses a threat to the community.”

Mazo’s attorney, William Terry, countered that description of his client, citing letters of support from Mazo’s family and friends, and requested Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell lower the bond of $150,000, or $15,000 for each of his original charges.

Tyrrell denied that request, but not before Terry cast doubt on the legitimacy of the new charges.

“In these kinds of cases ... it is not uncommon for other individuals to ‘come forward’ (but) that doesn’t mean that those are valid allegations,” Terry said.

“I’m not saying that’s what this is,” he added. “I’m just saying it’s not un­common, particularly in light of all the publicity this case has generated.”

In 2008, Mazo faced similar charges of student sex abuse with a student about the same age as the 8-year-old in the current case.

A judge ultimately dismissed the charges in 2008 after Mazo completed certain court requirements, and Tyrrell later sealed the case from public review.

Mazo returned to work in elementary classrooms — a fact which district officials blamed on stipulations in union-negotiated contracts that offer few options to fire teachers without a conviction in court.

The Nevada Department of Education highlighted similar restrictions in state statutes that prevent it from revoking an educator’s license until a final conviction.

However, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dale Erquiaga told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week that he and the attorney general’s office have started exploring a process that allows the State Board of Education, similar to other licensing boards in Nevada, to temporarily suspend a teacher’s license.

After the current legislative session ends next month, “what we will look at in the interim period is how that process might work and still be fair to the licensee that is accused” of sexual misconduct, Erquiaga said.

“A teaching license is a property right, and you can’t take that away without due process,” he added. “It’s a complicated issue (but) the number of these cases frankly seem to be on the rise.”

On the district level, Superintendent Pat Skorkowksy has said he plans to terminate Mazo for missing too much work while sitting in jail since April 24. Mazo’s status is “involuntarily resigned and suspended without pay pending a recommendation for dismissal to be presented to an arbitrator,” a district spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Contact Neal Morton at nmorton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @nealtmorton