Ex-Las Vegas schoolteacher gets jail time for making threats

A former Las Vegas Catholic school physical education teacher with a history of lashing out at administrators and others told a judge on Monday that he wanted to return to teaching in the valley.

“I don’t want to be remembered as that whacked-out teacher that shut the school down for a day,” Todd Pomeroy said at a sentencing hearing on a charge of threatening to cause bodily harm or death to a pupil or school employee. “My goal is to hopefully be able to teach again here in Clark County.”

District Judge Kathleen Delaney ordered Pomeroy to serve 90 days in the Clark County Detention Center, along with up to three years of probation for the gross misdemeanor charge to which he pleaded guilty earlier this year.

While on probation, Pomeroy must remain on house arrest and undergo substance abuse and mental health evaluations. The judge also decided that Pomeroy should have “absolutely no contact” with anyone affiliated with the school.

As the judge handed down Pomeroy’s sentence, she commented on his lengthy statement in which he blamed his actions on alcohol and not taking bipolar disorder medication.

“All I heard was somebody who was talking about himself, and the things that were misunderstood about what he did, the things that were overblown about what he did, and zero self-recognition of what actually occurred in this case,” Delaney said. “And that scares me. That scares me for you, that scares me for the community.”

Authorities said he left more than nine voicemails for different staff members between April 13 and April 29.

Pomeroy was fired from St. Viator Catholic School in Las Vegas in June 2017, almost two years before he left the voicemails. The messages prompted the private school to cancel classes for a day. Pomeroy told police that he often had been drinking when he left the voicemails.

Shackled and wearing a blue jail jumpsuit on Monday, Pomeroy said he regretted “scaring and shutting the school down” and that his “intent was to bring light to the way” his dismissal was handled.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of intimidating an officer, battery on a protected person and disorderly conduct in a separate case. Pomeroy’s agreement also called for prosecutors not to seek charges in connection with a report of threatening employees at a One Nevada Credit Union branch.

Pomeroy’s behavior dates to at least December 2005, when he was arrested after leaving threatening voicemails for the Las Vegas school where he had worked before quitting on Oct. 27, 2005.

At Monday’s hearing, St. Viator principal Tracy Brunelle told the judge that in his calls this year, Pomeroy had expected to be shot by police. Prosecutors have said he was headed to the school at 4246 S. Eastern Ave. when police took him into custody.

“What if those children had been exposed to the gunbattle he predicted, or, worse, what if they got hurt?” Brunelle said. “He knew he was coming on my campus. He knew what he was going to do. … Those messages were very, very upsetting.”

She said she has grown uncomfortable with being alone, particularly at the school.

“He has lost his job, and I fear he has absolutely nothing to lose,” Brunelle added. “And I’m afraid he’ll come back on campus.”

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.