Joe Harker
A former teacher at Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School, Las Vegas, has been arrested after being accused of sexually assaulting a student multiple times.
According to court records David Pendley faces 12 counts of sexual conduct between a school employee and pupil.
It has been alleged that he told his accuser he was doing it because he loved her and that 'God made him that way'.
Pendley was arrested on Monday (17 October) after a former student told police he groomed and assaulted her while she was a pupil at the school.
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The accusations against him come from someone who was a high school senior at the Christian school in 2018 and reported the alleged sexual offences in 2021.
She claims Pendley approached her about mentoring one of his students and invited her to accompany him on a mission trip to Mexico.
The documents say that while on the trip Pendley asked the victim to go on a walk with him where he allegedly asked her a number of personal questions and got another student to take a picture of them together.
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On the return trip to Las Vegas it is alleged that the former teacher sad down next to the victim and leaned into her to 'see the TV better'.
The victim said that once they had returned home he hugged her and whispered 'I love you', she said she tried pulling away multiple times before he let her go.
She then said she received a text message that weekend from the teacher asking her to send him a picture of her face, and said he complimented her appearance including her breasts, telling her he 'wanted to grab them'.
The former teacher later allegedly asked the victim round to his house to dog sit for him and his wife while they were away, when she was invited to his home to meet his wife and dog she allegedly found Pendley alone.
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According to the court documents this is when the teacher allegedly sexually assaulted the victim.
The sexual assaults allegedly continued for another six months at his home and on school campus while also sending her messages.
The victim told police Pendley started crying when she told him she was going to prom because he didn't want her dancing with boys.
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She said the teacher would 'get mad' whenever she told him she didn't like what he was doing while he told her he loved her, while he also allegedly said he was planning on divorcing his wife and told his victim nobody would believe her if she told someone.
According to his arrest report Pendley was later fired from the school in 2020 for drinking alcohol on the premises.
In a statement Faith Lutheran Middle School & High School said they would co-operate with the police investigation into the allegations.
Pendley is due to appear in court next month.
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