LV church school principal accused of sex misconduct

Keith Paul

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.

A Las Vegas church school principal was held this morning in the Clark County jail accused of having a sexual relationship with one of his students for three years.

Brent A. Fleshman, 31, was booked into the jail on 31 counts of sexual conduct between students and school employees. He was held on $775,000 bond, jail officials said.

Fleshman is accused of having sexual contact with a female student -- currently 17 years old -- on multiple occasions starting in July 1997, said Lt. Tom Monahan of Metro Police's sexual assault unit.

Fleshman holds titles of principal, teacher and youth director at the Gateway Christian Academy, a private school run by the Gateway Baptist Church.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Ron Patterson, said the school and the church would have no comment on the arrest.

The girl told her parents about the sexual relationship, who then contacted the police. The sexual contact was not forced, but because of the teacher-student relationship, legally, it cannot be considered consensual, Monahan said.

Fleshman was charged under a 1997 state law that makes sexual contact between a teacher and a student a crime. The crime is a felony punishable with a prison term of one to five years, according to the state statute.

However, if the two didn't have a teacher-student relationship, the girl was over 16 and the sexual contact consensual, there would not be a crime.

Monahan said his unit investigates several cases year of teachers having sexual relationships with students, but added "I wouldn't say it's an epidemic."

In June a first-year physical education teacher at Valley High School was charged with 10 counts of sexual conduct between a teacher and a student. Lora Rodriguez, 34, resigned from the school and later pleaded guilty to the charge.

In that case, Rodriguez was accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female student. In April a Metro Police patrol officer happened on Rodriguez and the student in a parked car. The officer noticed alcohol was in the car, made a report about the incident, but made no arrests at the time.

The school district was made aware of what happened and when school officials determined that the relationship may have been sexual in nature, police were contacted.

Monahan said if parents suspect their child may be having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher they should trust their instincts and start by talking to their child.