Child molestation charges reduced vs Fil-Am teacher

MANILA, Philippines – Jeremiah Mazo, 54, a former Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, music teacher pleaded guilty late July to lewdness with a child, according to an August 12 report in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Mazo is a longtime music teacher and was facing an initial 32 charges of child molestation, but 29 of the charges were later dropped and the 3 remaining charges reduced to lewdness with a child.

According to Mazo’s lawyer, his client will plead an equivalent of no contest to three counts of attempted lewdness with a minor under 14. Twenty-nine other charges will be dismissed.

The Review Journal reported that 10 of the initial charges were from an April arrest this year, after an 8-year-old girl said that Mazo molested her on 10 separate occasions at her elementary school.

Mazo, who admitted to two of those incidents, faced similar charges in 2008. But a North Las Vegas judge ultimately dismissed and sealed that case. He didn’t lose his job then because union rules made it more difficult to fire a teacher.

The plea agreement recommends that Mazo serve between 15 and 60 years in jail. Sentencing is scheduled to take place this October. – Rappler.com