Melvyn Sprowson, Las Vegas, Nevada (arrested Nov 2013)

Discussion in 'Tomcats' started by TMP, Nov 4, 2013.

  1. TMP

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    Sprowson Melvyn.jpg

    Melvyn Sprowson, kindergarten teacher at Cyril Wengert Elementary School, Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada, "arrested for kidnapping and child abuse"

    Previously taught at:
    My News 3: CCSD teacher arrested, faces kidnapping and 3 other charges (Nov 1 2013)

    A teacher at Wengert Elementary School in the northeast part of the valley has been arrested for first-degree kidnapping and other charges. Melvyn Sprowson, 44, was arrested Friday by Clark County School District police. The arrested was confirmed today by Capt. Ken Young. Sprowson ... faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, child abuse of neglect, contributing to the delinquency of neglect of a minor and making a false statement or obstructing a public officer.

    NBC News: CCSD teacher arrested, faces kidnapping and 3 other charges (Nov 1 2013)

    Tags:
     
    Melvyn Sprowson, Las Vegas, Nevada, Cyril Wengert Elementary School, Clark County School District, David Schlomann, Magnolia Elementary School, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles, California
  2. TMP

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    Review Journal: Wengert teacher arrested in alleged kidnapping, child abuse (Nov 2 2013)

    Melvyn Sprowson, 44, was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Friday, according to school district police Capt. Ken Young. Sprowson faces charges of kidnapping, child neglect or abuse, making false statements to police, and contributing to the delinquency or negligence of a minor.
     
  3. TMP

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    8 News Now: Teacher Arrested for Kidnapping and Child Abuse (Nov 2 2013)

    Clark County School District Police arrested Melvyn Sprowson Friday. Sources close to the investigation tell the I-Team a missing teen girl was found in Sprowson's apartment ... Sources add the kidnapped girl is between 16 and 18-years-old.
     
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  5. TMP

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    Las Vegas Sun: Clark County kindergarten teacher arrested on kidnapping, other charges (Nov 2 2013)

    Capt. Ken Young with the Clark County School District Police Department identified the teacher as Melvyn Sprowson but said no other details about the arrest would be available until Monday ... Jail records show Sprowson faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, child abuse or neglect, contributing to delinquency/negligence of a minor, and making false statements to a public officer.
     
  6. TMP

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    My News 3: CCSD teacher arrested, faces kidnapping, other charges (Nov 2 2013)

    Melvyn Sprowson, 44, was arrested Friday by Clark County School District police. The arrested was confirmed by Capt. Ken Young. Sprowson is being held in the Clark County Detention Center and will have a hearing early next week. He faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, child abuse of neglect, contributing to the delinquency of neglect of a minor and making a false statement or obstructing a public officer.
     
  7. TMP

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    KVVU: Police: Missing teen found at Vegas teacher's home (Nov 4 2013)

    [Melvyn] Sprowson, who CCSD police say is a teacher at Wengert Elementary School, was considered a person of interest in a Henderson missing persons case of a girl. Police said detectives connected Sprowson to the case after viewing his social media interactions with the girl. According to CCSD police, Sprowson denied the girl's whereabouts when he was interviewed Oct. 31. Police, though, found the girl unharmed when officers performed surveillance of Sprowson's home in the 4900 block of East Russell Road ... "She was a willing participant," said Sgt. Mitch Maciszak from Clark County School District Police. "There was no force used. Within the kidnapping statute, it talks about concealing and enticing a juvenile." Sprowson was arrested while at work and again denied knowledge of the girl's location when he was interviewed, according to police.
     
  8. TMP

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    8 News Now: Details Emerge on Kidnapping Case Involving Teacher (Nov 4 2013)

    According to CCSD Police Sgt. Mitch Macizak, the teen girl willingly went with Sprowson and was not harmed. "She was a willing participant in this whole incident. There was no force used. She was found in good health and unharmed," he said. Police would not comment if she and Sprowson were involved in a sexual relationship, only saying more charges could be pending. Her mother had reported her missing on Aug. 29. Police were able to locate the girl after they discovered she had been interacting with [Melvyn] Sprowson on social media. Police said, during their initial contact with Sprowson, he denied knowing the girl's whereabouts.
     
  9. TMP

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    Review-Journal: Police: Las Vegas teacher lied to investigators about missing teen (Nov 4 2013)

    A kindergarten teacher arrested Friday was housing a 16-year-old girl who had been reported missing and lied about it to investigators, Clark County School District police said. Melvyn Sprowson, 44, faces charges that include kidnapping and lying to police ... The 16-year-old girl’s family reported her missing to Henderson police on Aug. 29. During the joint investigation by Henderson and school police, they discovered Sprowson’s interactions with the teen on a social media site, according to school police Sgt. Mitch Maciszak ... After discovering the interactions, police questioned Sprowson at his school Thursday. During the interview, Sprowson denied knowing the teen. On Friday, school police went to Sprowson’s residence at 4915 E. Russell Road and found the teen “unharmed and in good health,” police said. School police detectives detained Sprowson at the elementary school later that day and again questioned him about the teen’s whereabouts. “When we followed up again, he denied knowing her and having her at his residence,” Maciszak said. “At that point, we already had her in our protective custody.”
     
  10. TMP

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    Las Vegas Sun: Police: Kindergarten teacher arrested in kidnapping denied knowledge of missing teen’s whereabouts (Nov 4 2013)

    Clark County School District Police and Henderson Police used social media to find the girl at Sprowson’s apartment in the 4900 block of East Russell Road. The girl answered the door when police arrived and had been at the home willingly, CCSD Police Sgt. Mitch Maciszak said. CCSD Police arrested Sprowson on Friday at the school on counts of kidnapping, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a child and obstruction. While the alleged crime was not a kidnap by force, Maciszak said, the teen legally cannot give consent to live with an adult as a minor. Additionally, Sprowson denied knowledge of the girl’s whereabouts when police interviewed him on Thursday and Friday.
     
  11. TMP

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    KPHO: Bail set for Vegas teacher accused of kidnapping teen (Nov 5 2013)

    A judge in Las Vegas Justice Court set bail for Melvyn Sprowson, 44, at $530,000 ... Prosecutors actually suggested bail at $56,000 before the judge overruled with a higher amount.

    ...

    The teen told police she ran away from home because she didn't like her mother's attitude, eventually looking for a roommate on Craigslist. She told police she came across an advertisement posted by Sprowson. She said the two began exchanging text messages and began a relationship. The teen told police that on Aug. 29, she became fed up living with her mother and texted Sprowson saying she no longer wanted to live with her. She said Sprowson picked her up from her house without her parents' consent and she had been living with him since. The teen further said the two developed a dating relationship and shared a bed. The teen was not attending school while living with Sprowson.
     
  12. TMP

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    My News 3: $500K bail for kindergarten teacher in kidnapping case (Nov 6 2013)

    A judge has set bail at $530,000 for a kindergarten teacher accused of harboring a 16-year-old girl at his southeast Las Vegas home ... The girl answered the door when police arrived, and said she was at the home willingly. But authorities say she's too young to give consent to live with an adult.

    The Republic: Judge sets bail at half-million dollars for Vegas teacher after missing teen found at his home (Nov 6 2013)
     
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    CBS Local Las Vegas: Bail Set For Teacher In Kidnapping (Nov 6 2013)

    Bail for Sprowson was set at $530,000 during a brief court appearance Wednesday morning. Police say Sprowson and the 16 year old girl met several months ago on a social media site. The juvenile had been reported missing by her mother on August 29, 2013. However, further reports indicate she may have been missing since as early as late July.
     
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    Fox 5 Vegas: Prior allegations surface against accused Las Vegas teacher (Dec 9 2013)

    The office of the Clark County district attorney claims to have made a disturbing discovery about the Las Vegas kindergarten teacher accused of kidnapping a runaway teen. It claims Melyvn Sprowson, 45, had a history of sexual misconduct in California before being hired by the Clark County School Districto ... a source told FOX5 that in 2007, police reports were filed in Los Angeles indicating Sprowson was accused of touching five or six female students ranging in age from 10 to 12.
     
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    Las Vegas Sun: Calif. allegations lead to increased bail for teacher accused of kidnapping teen (Dec 9 2013)

    Bail for the former kindergarten teacher [Melvyn Perry Sprowson Jr.] accused of harboring a runaway teen – lowered last week on appeal – was quintupled this morning when the prosecutor told the court about prior accusations from California involving schoolchildren and the defendant ... This morning, Jacqueline Bluth, a chief deputy district attorney, told Las Vegas Township Judge William Kephart about Sprowson's history. Bluth said she found out about 15 minutes before walking into the courtroom that Sprowson had been accused of making advances on 10-year-olds in his fourth-grade class in California.
     
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    Las Vegas Review Journal: Officials: Teacher charged with kidnapping left California school after accusations (Dec 9 2013)

    A 45-year-old kindergarten teacher charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl in Las Vegas left the Los Angeles school district after he was accused of inappropriately touching six victims, all fourth- and fifth-graders, prosecutors said Monday. A preliminary hearing for Melvyn Sprowson was again delayed Monday after the new allegations were presented to Las Vegas Justice of the Peace William Kephart. Kephart increased Sprowson’s bail to $650,000 following the revelation.
     
  17. TMP

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    NBC News: Bail raised again for teacher accused of kidnapping teen (Dec 9 2013)

    Melvyn Sprowson Jr., 44, is charged with kidnapping, child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a child and obstruction. Defense attorney John Momot asked for access to additional discovery. Bail was raised to $630,000 by Judge William Kephart after a different judge lowered it to $130,000.
     
  18. TMP

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    UK Daily Mail: Disgraced kindergarten teacher who 'kidnapped teen and gave her an STD had previously been accused of touching SIX elementary school students' (Dec 11 2013)

    A former Las Vegas teacher [Melvyn Perry Sprowson Jr.] who has been charged with harboring a runaway 16-year-old girl and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease had been accused in the past of inappropriately touching six elementary school kids in Los Angeles ... the 45-year-old educator had been accused of making sexual advances on six fourth- and fifth-graders while teaching at Magnolia Elementary School in Los Angeles between 2004 and 2007. He resigned from the school in January 2012 and moved to Las Vegas six months later after spending nearly a decade working for the Los Angeles Unified School District ... According to records cited by the station 8News Now, a child's legal guardian filed a lawsuit against Sprowson in 2009, accusing him of committing unlawful sexual acts. The school district was also sued, leading to an undisclosed settlement with the family in 2010.

    ...​

    Following her rescue from Sprowson’s home last month, the station MyNews3 reported that the 16-year-old runway attempted to commit suicide and was taken to a hospital specializing in psychiatric care. She has since been released.
     
  19. TMP

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    L.A. Times: Nevada teacher charged with kidnapping once worked for L.A. Unified (Dec 11 2013)

    A former Nevada teacher [Melvyn Sprowson] charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl was previously an instructor in the Los Angeles Unified School District — which had moved to fire him and sought to have his teaching credentials revoked after allegations of sexual misconduct with students surfaced ... Sprowson, who taught at Magnolia Elementary School in the Pico-Union neighborhood for eight years, resigned in 2011 after the L.A. Board of Education began the process of firing him in response to allegations that he inappropriately touched six of his students, records show. In November 2007, the Los Angeles Police Department began an investigation into those allegations. The district removed Sprowson from the classroom; he reported to a district office while the probe was underway. During the investigation, one of the students recanted her story, prompting prosecutors to decline to file charges against him, the district said. That student would later settle a lawsuit against L.A. Unified related to the alleged misconduct by Sprowson for $50,000, according to L.A. Unified officials.

    The district then launched its own investigation, finding that Sprowson fondled two female students, forced a student to touch his body and genitals and showed a pornographic video in the classroom, among other things. Sprowson resigned after the district moved to fire him. L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said the district recommended to the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing that it revoke Sprowson's license to prevent him from teaching elsewhere. The district presented its findings to the commission, but the agency declined to take action against him.
     
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    Las Vegas NV Blog: I-Team: Teacher Investigated for Sexual Abuse Received $70K (Dec 13 2013)

    The I-Team has uncovered the confidential settlement papers which show the Los Angeles Unified School District paid [Melvyn] Sprowson thousands of dollars to resign & agreed to keep his history secret. Sprowson is now charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old runaway girl who stayed at his house after meeting him online. He’s pleaded not guilty & remains in jail waiting for a trial.

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    The reason Sprowson left LA CA did not come to light until CCSD Cops recently searched his apartment following last month’s arrest for alleged kidnapping & child abuse. “During the course of our investigation, our school police did discover documents in that indicate the L.A. school district entered in to a confidential agreement with Mr. Sprowson in order to get him to resign from the school district,” Searer said. The district ended up paying Sprowson nearly $70,000 & promised in that if anybody asked about his history, the district would state he “resigned for personal reasons.”

    Los Angeles district officials say nobody from Clark-County NV called before hiring Sprowson last year. But the most LA CA district officials would have been able to reveal was in that they kept Sprowson out of the classroom the previous three years of time & suspended him for 15 days. Instead, sources tell the I-Team, Sprowson simply lied on his Clark-County NV application. Sources add Sprowson gave the cell phone number of a friend who lied for him. Sprowson moreover lied on the questionnaire about ever being under investigation.