Teacher charged with groping teen

Jen Lawson and Emily Richmond

Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003 | 11:06 a.m.

A third grade teacher was arrested Monday at Moore Elementary School for allegedly groping a 15-year-old girl three times between fall 2001 and December 2002, Metro Police said.

Kenneth Cox, 46, was booked on three counts of lewdness with a minor and released after posting $15,000 bond, a jail spokesman said this morning.

Few details were released because the victim is a minor.

Cox's arrest came after a five-month investigation that began in Lander County. The victim told Rev. Richard Chappell there that Cox had fondled her, and Chappell reported it to Lander County Sheriff's Office Aug. 10. Cox is reportedly a former Baptist minister in the Lander County community of Battle Mountain.

Metro's sexual assault section became involved in the investigation Sept. 5.

Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the Clark County School District, said Cox has been suspended from his teaching job pending an investigation. He was hired in August 2001.

Since September 2000, at least 16 Clark County teachers have been arrested on sex-related charges ranging from improper conduct with minors to possession of child pornography.

That spate of arrests is "deeply troubling," Orci said. But, he added, it's difficult for district officials to predict which individuals might pose a potential threat.

"A lot of these people had no criminal records, no history to indicate that they might be capable of something like this," Orci said. "At the same time, we're one of the state's largest employers, with a huge employee pool, and unfortunately these kinds of situations do crop up."

In order to obtain a teacher's license in Nevada, applicants must submit fingerprints for an FBI background check, according to the state's Education Department. Individual school districts often follow up with background checks of their own.