Allegations of lewd behavior will be reviewed, school chief says

In a letter to the editor in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal , Jones said that "as necessary, the district will take full responsibility for the actions of its employees."

"Inappropriate actions or conduct exhibited by a district employee will not be tolerated and is not in the best interest of maintaining the community’s trust," Jones wrote.

Jones’ statement is the strongest, most direct statement issued to date by a district official. It follows several contradictory statements made by officials about the investigation into district accounting coordinator Darren Boyett, 45.

In a Jan. 16 Review-Journal article, the Iron County (Utah) sheriff’s office expressed frustration that Boyett was still on the job a year after the department submitted a case against him to school police.

The case dates to January 2010, when Iron County investigators staged an Internet sting to snare child sex predators.

According to the police report, a man contacted a decoy pretending to be a 13-year-old girl, engaged in lewd chat room exchanges and sent images of himself masturbating.

Utah authorities determined that the man was using a Clark County School District computer and telephone assigned to Boyett.

Because of a jurisdictional issue, the case was turned over to the district’s school police in March.

School Police Chief Filiberto Arroyo initially said the criminal investigation was the responsibility of a federal agency he could not name.

Almost a week later, the school district changed its story and in a written statement announced that school police had thoroughly investigated the allegations and had submitted the case to the district attorney’s office.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger, however, denied that a written case had ever been submitted.

District officials indicated that Boyett’s hard drive was examined and no evidence of illegal activities was found. How extensively the hard drive was examined, however, was not revealed.

Officials said Boyett could not be linked to his office at the time of the chats, which took place between Jan. 15 and Feb. 2, and speculated that someone near the building could have accessed the district’s wireless network "with the proper password, which is well-known."

School officials offered no comment on the decoy’s telephone conversation on Boyett’s work telephone during the middle of a chat or on how someone outside the building could have accessed his work phone.

Jones stressed a determination to investigate and correct any problems within the district.

The school police investigation took place before Jones became superintendent.

"In instances of questionable conduct, I will support vigorous prosecution when facts and evidence warrant such," Jones wrote. "If there are areas where we can improve district actions, further our investigations or respond to allegations, I will immediately implement corrective measures."

The district has denied public access to its written report on the investigation, citing an active case.

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@review journal.com or 702-383-0283.