Love letter prompted investigation into Las Vegas middle school teacher

Kweku Turkson, 38, faces three counts of lewdness and one count of attempted lewdness with a child under 14, jail records show. He is being held at the Clark County Detention Center. His bail is set at $50,000.

“(The teacher) stated that to his knowledge, there was no reason for (the girl) to be in Kweku’s classroom, as they were in different grades,” the report reads. “He then stated that no teacher would have a student in their classroom, with the door locked, for any reason.”

A teacher told police he talked to Turkson numerous times about students being in his classroom when they were not supposed to be there. The alleged inappropriate contact happened about May, according to the report. Turkson talked to the girl about having sex in the classroom, but they never had sex, according to the report.

When interviewed by police, the girl cried when asked if Kweku had made her feel uncomfortable, according to the report. She said Kweku told her he “wanted to be with her” and he could not believe a girl her age could “have a body like that.” She also said Kweku made her sit on his lap, tried to kiss her, grabbed her butt and placed her hand on top of his pants on his penis.

The investigation that led to Turkson’s Jan. 19 arrest started with a letter the girl penned in May. According to the report, she wrote it after Turkson complained that she had not given him anything for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Before police were notified of the letter, the school’s principal interviewed Turkson, who denied any wrongdoing. The principal told police Turkson said he was “trying to be a life coach.” Turkson did not speak to police during the investigation.

Days after staff found the letter, school administrators had the girl sign a contract preventing her from being in Turkson’s classroom or in the hallway where his room was located, according to the report. The girl’s mother told police the school’s dean said her daughter would be punished for writing the letter.

Turkson signed no documents relating to the incident, according to the report.

Turkson was slated to become the girls soccer coach at the beginning of this school year, while he was under investigation, according to the report. School district officials said he did not coach any sports this school year, but in past years he was an assistant coach for the boys flag football, basketball and soccer teams.

West Prep, 2050 Sapphire Stone Ave., has students in elementary-, middle- and high-school levels. It had enrollment of more than 1,800 in the 2016-17 school year.

Turkson, who was in his third year as a teacher at the school, has been “assigned to home” since October, school district officials said.

Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Meghin Delaney contributed to this story.