Las Vegas high school teacher faces charge over threatening texts

A Las Vegas high school teacher faces a criminal charge after allegedly sending threatening text messages, police said.

Leslie McGourty, 48, was arrested at Bonanza High School on Wednesday after officers saw threatening text messages she had sent to a friend, Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Larry Hadfield said. Hadfield did not specify the content of the messages, but said that the threats were not directed toward the school.

Police were first called at 7:15 a.m. to a home on the 7800 block of Oak Point Lane after receiving a report that a woman planned to hurt herself. After arriving at the home, officers found out she had gone to work.

After investigating, officers arrested McGourty at the school just after 10 a.m., Hadfield said. Booking logs show she was arrested on suspicion of making a threat to commit an act of terrorism.

She has since been released from custody, police said.

District officials declined to name McGourty Wednesday, but said the the arrested teacher would be “assigned to home” upon her release. The school’s website identifies McGourty as a science teacher.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.