Police: CCSD band teacher had sexual relationship with student

A Clark County School District high school teacher is accused of having a sexual relationship with his student during which the two exchanged nearly 20,000 sometimes explicit text messages, according to police records.

Cole Horton, a 30-year-old band teacher at Basic Academy of International Studies, was arrested Thursday by the Clark County School District Police Department. He faces one count of engaging in a sex act with a pupil above the age of 16 and one count of contacting a minor for sex as a person of authority, Henderson Justice Court records show.

In Horton’s arrest report, the student said she and Horton were “currently in a dating relationship” in an interview with police and confirmed that the two had a romantic and sexual relationship before she graduated on May 28. The student told police she and Horton had sex on two occasions after she graduated, that their relationship was consensual and how she did not want Horton to get in trouble, according to the arrest report.

Horton, who had been the student’s band teacher for two years, kissed her in his classroom and car on multiple occasions, the report stated. The student’s father said he allowed Horton to transport his daughter home from school and to music auditions, but was not aware of their romantic relationship, according to the arrest report.

At school, the report said, Horton and his student discussed having a sexual relationship after she graduated and acknowledged the inappropriate nature of their relationship.

The investigation into Horton began on Aug. 5 after Basic principal Tati Hadavi told police an anonymous tipster provided him with a photo of Horton and his student dining together and said they have been seen holding hands in public, according to the report.

Explicit messages

After searching through the student’s phone, police said text communication records showed 19,596 messages between her and Horton from Apr. 1 to Aug. 8, as well as 174 calls between Feb. 13 and Aug. 5. The report detailed a series of intimate texts between Horton and the student during the school year.

The messages provided in the arrest report show Horton describing multiple apparent sexual encounters between him and the student, requesting pictures of the student trying on clothes and sharing explicit fantasies he wanted them to engage in.

“I wish you were by my side in bed right now. Scratching my arm and nestling into me,” Horton texted the student, according to the report. “I would do anything with you.”

In one exchange, the report said Horton texted the student about how he was eating less food to lose weight and look more attractive.

“I want to look how I want to for you. I appreciate that you say I’m enough. I just want to be more attractive for the both of us,” Horton texted. “You mean everything to me. I’m sorry.”

Across the texts, the report said Horton refers to the student as “sweetheart,” “mi amor,” “mi estrella” and “mi corazon.”

The report added that, at one point via his school district email, Horton messaged the student two minutes after midnight, saying, “Happy Birthday … Wanted to be one of the first.”

Records showed that the student sent multiple images to Horton, the report said, but their contents could not be reviewed because the student removed them from her device before police could conduct a forensic extraction. The student told police she sent Horton nude photos while she was in school, according to the report.

Horton’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 9.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.