Teacher charged in porn case

David Kihara

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 | 11:20 a.m.

Two Clark County School District employees arrested this week face multiple counts of lewdness with minors under the age of 14, police said.

Henderson Police on Thursday arrested Mark Zana, 37, a fifth grade teacher at Lorna J. Kesterson Elementary School. He is charged with four counts of lewdness with a minor and 10 counts of possession of child pornography.

The police arrested Zana after a 12-year-old girl who now lives in Colorado told her mother that Zana had touched her inappropriately when she was about 10 years old and a student at Kesterson, Officer Todd Rassmussen said.

Police also recovered images and video clips of child pornography on Zana's computer after they confiscated it during a search of his house on Sept. 22, police said.

After police began investigating Zana, another girl came forward and alleged Zana had touched her inappropriately at the school as well, Rassmussen said.

"We also suspect there are other victims," Rassmussen said, noting that Zana had coached gymnastics at several area locations and had previously been a teacher at Ulis Newton Elementary before moving to Kesterson.

Just three days before Zana was arrested, Metro Police had arrested 40-year-old Ruben Dwayne Valle. He is charged with three counts of lewdness with a minor under 14.

Valle, a teacher's aide at Variety, a school for special needs students, is accused of inappropriately touching an 8-year-old and 6-year-old girl at a recreation facility where he also works, according to a Metro report.

Each count of lewdness with a minor carries a sentence of 10 years to life, said Tom Carroll, chief deputy district attorney with the special victim's unit.

Steve Lombard, a Clark County School District spokesman, said Zana taught at Newton from 1996 to 1999 and at Kesterson from 1999 to present. District applicants must go through an FBI background check that scans for felonies. Zana's, Lombard said, came up clear.

Zana was removed from the classroom last week after Henderson Police contacted the School District while an investigation was pending, Henderson Police said.

Valle worked at Variety from May 2000 to present, said district spokeswoman Pat Nelson.

She added that whenever a teacher is arrested, the district immediately removes them from the classroom.

Nelson said she couldn't provide any detailed information about Valle, such as possible prior complaints by students, because such complaints are considered personnel information.

Variety has about 145 students who range in age from 3 to 22 years, she said.

Trish Schepers, the principal at Variety, said Valle worked as an aide in alternative class placement, a program for students who need work on social skills. The program has one teacher and at least two aides, she said.

She would not comment specifically on Valle but said each employee goes through rigorous background checks.

An 8-year-old girl accused Valle of kissing her and touching her on the thigh and in the genital area at a recreation center on Sunday, according to the Metro report. Valle also allegedly asked the 8-year-old to model a T-shirt for him, according to the report.

A 6-year-old friend of the girl made similar accusations against Valle, according to the police report.

Police also have a surveillance video from the recreation center showing Valle kissing the 8-year-old and holding her in his lap, according to the report.

After his arrest, Valle "was hysterically crying," the report said. Although he initially denied the accusations, saying that he only touched the 8-year-old like sports players pat each other on the buttocks, he eventually told police that he was attracted to the girl and "was touching her for pleasure," the report stated.

At a press conference this morning George Ann Rice, associate superintendent of human resources for the district, said she was distressed by the arrests which come a month into the new school year.

The two arrests represent a fraction of a percentage of the district's more than 30,000 employees, but "even when there's one allegation, no matter when it happens, it's disappointing to us," Rice said.

The district's background check procedures are sound, Rice said.

She said she wished there was "a metal detector" that could reliably screen out individuals prone to deviant behavior.