Fourth teacher faces charges of having sex with students

Kris Hill

Monday, Feb. 26, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

A Clark County School District employee, the fourth in recent weeks to be charged with sexual relations with a student, was arrested by Escondido, Calif., police in a hotel parking lot.

James Gabriele, 38, a Western High School teacher, was charged with two counts of unlawfully having sex with a minor after police responded Friday to a complaint from the hotel security guard that a couple in a sport utility vehicle with Nevada plates was having sex in the hotel parking lot.

Escondido Police Sgt. Domingo Lafon, who responded to the scene, said once he realized the woman was probably under age, he would have to handle things carefully. The age of consent is 18 in California.

"We called the mom to find out if she knew where her daughter was," Lafon said. "Her mother didn't know that she was alone with one of her teachers and came to pick her up."

The student was not identified because she is a minor and a victim of a sex crime, Lafon said.

Gabriele posted bail from a Vista, Calif., jail and will appear in court at a later date. Police said the court date has not been set.

Clark County School District officials could not be reached for comment.

Gabriele is the fourth Clark County School District employee to be arrested this month on charges of sex with students.

On Feb. 6 Jeremy Green, a 27-year-old teacher at Mojave High School, was arrested after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old female student.

Newell Leavitt, 48, a teacher at Lyal Burkholder Middle School in Henderson was charged with four counts of sexual assault Feb. 12, after a friend of the 14-year-old student he was allegedly involved with called police.

On Feb. 10 Michael Vicious, theater manager at Las Vegas Academy, was charged with one count of sexual conduct between employees of schools and a pupil.