Teacher told police relationship with student was as ‘consensual as it can be with a 16-year-old’
The Desert Pines High School science teacher accused last week of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old student told police everything he did with the girl was consensual — as “consensual as it can be with a 16-year-old girl,” according to his arrest report.
Jonathan Scheaffer, 23, was arrested June 1 after an interview with detectives. He faces 11 counts of sexual conduct between a school employee and a pupil.
The reported relationship happened for about 10 months between the end of 2014 and mid-2015, both Scheaffer and the girl told police.
The girl’s mother told police she knew about the relationship and “did not agree” with it, but “requested it be in her house where her daughter would be safe.”
It’s unclear whether the mother knew the relationship was sexual; the arrest report noted there was a communication barrier between the mother and Scheaffer — the girl translated Scheaffer’s comments from English to Spanish, and the mother replied in English. The arrest report also noted that throughout the 10-month period, Scheaffer and the girl did not exclusively spend time together at the mother’s home, as requested.
The mother later told police about the relationship because “she was worried for her daughter’s physical and mental health,” but only after another teacher reported it to police last week.
Throughout the reported relationship, the girl told police Scheaffer sometimes tried to pressure her into sex.
During two different instances, she told police Scheaffer wanted to have sex but didn’t have a condom. The girl said no, and in one instance Scheaffer told her “he was a premed student and he knew her body better than she did,” the girl told police; in another, the girl said Scheaffer told her “if she became pregnant, he would just take her to get an abortion.”
After both instances, they did not have sex.
Throughout the relationship, Scheaffer told police “they did go further than kissing,” referencing different sexual acts, “but did not have sex.” The girl said the same, though she told police during at least one instance of oral sex “she was too stupid and scared to say no.”
Later, when the girl told police she broke up with Scheaffer in the summer of 2015, she told detectives “she tried to forget all about this relationship after it was over,” but eventually told another teacher about it, who reported it to police. Scheaffer told police he was the one that broke up with the student.
Throughout the relationship, which Scheaffer admitted to, the teacher told police he “was just going along with this whole thing.” He met the girl during anime club and started liking her, which he told police was “really bad.”
Scheaffer, who was 22 at the time, questioned what he should do next, even seeking advice from a mentor, he told police; it’s unclear whether the mentor was from Teach for America, which Scheaffer was involved with, according to his LinkedIn page. It’s also unclear whether the mentor reported the teacher’s initial feelings to anyone.
Scheaffer ultimately told the girl how he felt, which he said “was the biggest mistake of his life,” adding that “he was not strong enough to be a teacher.”
Throughout his interview, Scheaffer also told police he “feels awful,” adding that he spent “a lot of time trying to be better this year.”
The age of consent in Nevada is 16, but Nevada law prohibits teachers from having sexual conduct with students younger than 18 and with some school employees and volunteers younger than 21.
Scheaffer, who was also the head coach of the girls swim team, resigned June 2 and is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center. He will appear in court again Wednesday morning.
Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Find @rachelacrosby on Twitter.
