Additional charges are being brought against a North Las Vegas elementary school teacher who was arrested last month on multiple counts of child molestation.
Jeremiah Mazo, 54, a music teacher at Hayden Elementary School, was arrested in April on 10 charges of lewdness with a child under the age of 14. Now, the district attorney’s office alleges Mazo fondled seven different children on at least 32 separate occasions, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The new charges come amid a time when state officials explore new legal options to temporarily dismiss educators suspected of student sex abuse, according to the Journal.
Mazo first joined the district as a music teacher in 2003, the same year he obtained his Nevada teaching license. Since then, he has taught at multiple elementary campuses, including Hayes and Woolley in Las Vegas. He began working at Hayden in 2009.
“As a teacher, he had the opportunity and access to young children and he touched them – at least one – in inappropriate ways,” Sweetin said, according to the Journal. “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. The defendant has issue with his contact with children. He poses a threat to the community,” Sweetin added.
Mazo’s attorney, William Terry, declined to respond to a request for comment. However, the Journal reported that Terry cited letters from Mazo’s family and friends to rebut Sweetin’s comments.
“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, according to the Journal.
“I’m not saying that’s what this is. I’m just saying it’s not uncommon, particularly in light of all the publicity this case has generated,” he added.
In April, Mazo was held on $1 million bail – $100,000 for each of the first reported 10 counts Terry requested that Justice of the Peace Natalie Tyrrell lower the amount to $15,000 per count for a total of $150,000.
Mazo remains on $150,000 bail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in North Las Vegas Justice Court, according to Associated Press.
The incidents are not the firsts for Mazo, who faced similar charges in 2008. The Clark County School District confirmed it knew about the previous case, but did not dismiss him because the charges were later dropped. The case was later sealed from public review.
After the 2008 situation, Mazo returned to work in elementary classrooms. District officials say this occurred because of union contracts, which offer limited options for firing educators without any court convictions.
Following news of possible additional victims related to the incident, parents expressed concern about the safety of their children.
“Now you’re questioning, ‘Should I even take them to school?’ I’d rather them stay at home almost, Roxanne McKay, a parent of two kids who attend the school, told KTNV. “It’s not OK.”
“We’re over here trying to protect our kids and make sure they’re safe and not knowing that it’s going on in the same school,” said Larry Amaro, who has a daughter at the school, according to KTNV. “So it’s something to be concerned about.”
On May 5, the Journal reported that a district spokeswoman said Mazo’s status is “involuntarily resigned and suspended without pay pending a recommendation for dismissal to be presented to an arbitrator.” (With reports from Associated Press, KTNV, Las Vegas Review Journal)
