Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

ROTC adviser lavished gifts on high school student after sexual relations, police report says

Click to enlarge photo

Douglas Young, 49, of Las Vegas is accused of sexual misconduct with a student and was arrested Wednesday by Metro Police, May 23, 2012.

A Sunrise Mountain High School student felt coerced to have sex with her ROTC adviser to advance her military career, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

The ROTC adviser, 49-year-old Douglas Young, was arrested Tuesday by Metro Police on a felony count of sexual misconduct with a student, police said.

Young had been employed by the Clark County School District since September as the ROTC instructor at Sunrise, School District spokeswoman Melinda Malone said. After the allegations surfaced, Young was placed on home assignment with pay pending the superintendent's recommendation for dismissal — standard procedure in cases such as this, Malone said.

The 17-year-old student alerted high school staff about the relationship Tuesday, leading to Young's arrest Wednesday afternoon, the report states.

The girl told detectives she initially considered Young a "great mentor" and became his student aide, police said.

Young allegedly told the student "females must use their sexuality to advance in the military" and suggested she must do the same, according to the arrest report.

After showing the student Nellis Air Force Base one evening, Young allegedly took the student back to his home and gave her alcohol before having sex with her, the report states.

The girl told detectives Young said, "You know what you have to do" before he took her to his bedroom to have sex, the report states. Afterward, Young allegedly drove her to a bank, withdrew money and gave her $300, which she assumed was "hush money," the student told police.

The sexual relationship began in September and continued until April, the report states. Young lavished the girl with food and clothing before having sex with her, police said.

"The student knew it was wrong, but she figured at least she was getting something out of having sex with him," according to the arrest report.

Conversations with a military recruiter made the student realize Young really couldn't help her as he had claimed, the student told police.

Police contacted Young after the student's disclosure, but he told detectives an attorney advised him to not answer questions, according to the report.

Detectives, meanwhile, executed a search warrant at Young's residence and discovered his bedroom was "exactly how the student described."

Young is the second school district employee to be arrested in the past month. In late April, Metro Police arrested 35-year-old Timothy D. Lawson, a teacher and assistant wrestling coach at Cimarron-Memorial High School, in connection with reports of public masturbation.

Lawson was charged with one count of open or gross lewdness and one count of indecent exposure stemming from incidents in June 2011, according to a criminal complaint filed in April.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy