Las Vegas-area asst. principal told student he wanted to ‘make love’ to her, recordings show
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Henderson assistant principal facing several sexual misconduct charges allegedly told a middle school student, “I wish you were an adult already” amid several other inappropriate and sexual comments heard on several different audio recordings, police documents said.
Howard Hughes, 61, faces three counts of contacting or attempting to contact a minor by a person of authority for the purpose of sex. U.S. Marshals arrested Hughes in Texas Friday after he fled the state.
Hughes was assigned as the assistant principal at Del Webb Middle School in January 2022.
The victim told police that in October 2023, Hughes offered to let her spend time in his office for personal and mental health problems, according to an arrest warrant 8 News Now obtained.
On March 8, the victim’s father called Clark County School District police to report the inappropriate behavior of Hughes, providing recordings the victim took. Several people positively identified Hughes’ voice in the recording.
While she was in his office, Hughes would make inappropriate comments toward her, telling her, “I wish you were an adult already,” according to documents.,
In the recordings from Feb. 13, Feb. 28, and March 5, Hughes can be heard telling the victim that she was “beautiful from head to toe” and saying that he “could not wait until she was ‘officially’ his girlfriend,” documents said.
Hughes told the victim he wanted to “make love. Passionately. Not sex, not [expletive], but making love,” stating “there is a difference.”
More than once, Hughes can be heard telling the victim not to tell her parents, documents said.
On March 20, CCSDPD learned that Hughes left Nevada. According to the warrant, Hughes told the principal of the school that he had flown to Texas. Data from his cell phone showed him in Dallas, documents said.
Marshals arrested Hughes on March 22.
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