By MATT WARD
PVT
Nye County Sheriff’s deputies were made aware of alleged abuse at Floyd Elementary School on Oct. 22 after a whistleblower reported witnessing a teacher strike two disabled students, according to a court record filed in the case and made available to the Pahrump Valley Times.
The whistleblower told an NCSO deputy that a “Mrs. Hopkins” flicked two children in the face, “grabbed,” “hit,” and “shook violently” the disabled students for not following instructions, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Fifth Judicial District Court.
NCSO Det. David Boruchowitz filed the affidavit on Nov. 22, according to the search warrant.
According to the warrant, the whistleblower is no longer employed with the school district, having left to get “out of this situation,” the affidavit states.
A review of two other search warrant affidavits as well as a declaration of arrest filed in the case provide a much clearer picture of the case police have built against four Floyd Elementary School educators who were arrested last week. Holly Lepisto, the principal at Floyd, special education teacher Sarah Hopkins, and special education aides Kathryn Cummings and Phyllis DuShane were arrested on Nov. 23 and charged with five counts of child abuse each as well as with one count of conspiracy to commit a crime.
The educators are suspended, along with a fifth aide, from their jobs at the school district pending an internal investigation. All are free on $100,000 bail.
Nye County Sheriff’s deputies executed a number of search warrants at Floyd Elementary as well as with the school district’s local offices. The court records include information about specific allegations against the four educators who were arrested, including the names of alleged victims and parents, specific incidents, the names of witnesses against them and records that appear to support the charges filed against the four women. Police also seized the records of at least two victimized students. These records included IEPs, discipline history, therapy protocols and related school documents.
The PVT is not releasing the names of the alleged victims. Parents of the victims will be identified only if they agree to comment for future stories about the arrests. The PVT is also withholding the whistleblower’s identity.
According to a search warrant affidavit filed in Justice Court on Nov. 29 and signed by Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill, NCSO detectives seized the personnel records for DuShane, Cummings, Lepisto, Hopkins as well as for previously unnamed school district employees Tracy Visconti and Amy Johnson.
In the affidavit attached to the warrant, the detective writes that through his investigation he identified four victims of abuse who are students in Hopkins’ Floyd Elementary class. The children, he writes, were subjected to “spankings, flicking, pushing, slapping, violent shaking and grabbing.” The students suffered from a variety of physical disabilities, including visual impairment, mental challenges, cerebral palsy and autism. The detective describes interviews he conducted in the case, including an interview with an unnamed aide who says that on one occasion they “witnessed Hopkins grab (name withheld)’s hand and make (sex withheld) punch self in the mouth several times as a punishment.”
According to the sworn statement, three aides went to Lepisto and filed complaints about the incident. One aide told police that Lepisto said “this was a special class and this is how things were handled there.” In the statement, Boruchowitz also describes his interviews with DuShane, Cummings and Hopkins. He says their information was “deceptive and contradictory.” Also, he says the women “admitted to the allegations in a round about fashion.”
According to the affidavit, Hopkins told Lepisto of “spanking” the children, and that the principal urged the teacher to be careful of perceptions. An interview of one of the victim’s parents, according to the sworn statement, revealed that the parent did not give Hopkins or anyone at the school district permission to punish the student.
According to the detective’s sworn statement, he interviewed a 6-year-old who is in Hopkins’s class. The child told the detective that while other students participate in a disciplinary routine involving cards when they misbehave, another student is “spanked” or “snapped” when they misbehave.
Boruchowitz also interviewed “ a director of Special Education” at the school who revealed that he’d referred an occupational therapist to Lepisto when the therapist complained about the treatment of students in Hopkins’ class, according to the statement. Contacted later, Boruchowitz writes that the therapist reported incidents multiple times to the school district that went unheeded.
Hopkins said that she was following accepted practices, according to the detective’s description of his interview with her. The detective reveals in the affidavit that a “letter of expectation” exists that Hopkins made available to all her new classroom aides. In the letter, according to the sworn statement, Hopkins advises that if the aides have any problems with the level of physical contact between them and the students, they should “report it to her.” Boruchowitz says in his statement that he believes this was done to keep “the circle of people that knew as small as possible.”
The affidavit also records that Floyd Elementary guidance counselor Kathy Gailey was provided a copy of this letter.
A third search warrant filed in Brisebill’s court on Nov. 29 seeks records provided to Gailey as well as all video surveillance taken from the interior and exterior of the school. The information in the affidavit attached to the warrant was similar in nature to the previous warrant.
A declaration of arrest provided the PVT on Wednesday reveals the same information as the warrant affidavits.
A criminal complaint is expected to be filed Thursday by District Attorney Brian Kunzi.
A number of local educators and parents of Floyd Elementary students have expressed shock and doubt about the allegations against Lepisto, Hopkins, DuShane and Cummings.
More information about this case and the investigation leading up to the arrest of Lepisto, Hopkins, DuShane and Cummings will be in Friday’s PVT.
I love how everyone seems to enjoy accusing the investigators, prosecutors, and plaintiffs of conspiracies, then whenever someone comes up with a new one, they conspire with that person to make it seem credible. The tale gets taller as you read along. You’re making these women out to be Jesus of Nazareth and the whole law enforcement system as the Romans. It’s very entertaining. And going after a lawyer and his wife is just not smart. I applaud everyone who stands up to tyranny, be it in the government or in the class room, or anywhere else. Pensive Explorer saying that nothing in the article seems plausible is laughable. Yeah, nobody ever hit a kid for misbehaving before, that’s not plausible. Never happens. Fight for your children, your loved ones and your life. I applaud Mr. Gibson and his wife. Now you’ve got me writing in rhyme.
Father Jon…what a crock! I am appalled by Boruchowitz’ statements to a newspaper regarding an investigation?! How is it possible to get truth beyond all these allegations by the investigators and local news?? Protecting children is the first priority,crimes committed have to be investigated and not ruined on speculation in order to cite and convict . This is a botched effort from the onset. How is the “whistleblower” acountable for the truth? I smell WITCH HUNT.. I also see kangaroo court…In order to actually investigate this matter if it hasn’t been already slaughtered, please shut the Det. up and please report news …national enquirer would not even hire y’all! Be REAL!!!
Father John. what are you applauding gibson and his wife for? do you know that she was the informant? do you know what she told Boruchowitz? Do you know if she is friends with “t”?
I don’t know anything more than anybody else does, but I’m not the one on here damning the media and everyone but the teachers. I’ve read people say in the past posts that Det. B is standoffish with the media, now you’re saying his statement was bad. What did you expect from a guy who doesn’t like talking to the media? Doesn’t mean he botched the investigation. I applaud the Gibson’s for not being pushed around on a silly forum and for standing up for themselves. I don’t even know who they are.
Every story that I’ve read that involves this detective, is first about the arrest, second about the follow up and then third, about how all the charges were dropped because there was no real evidence. How many lawsuits are pending against the county because of this detective now? How much is this going to cost us in Tax Payer Dollars? Speaking of Tax Payer Dollars, now for some real news … how many people know that Tax Cuts for the Middle Class have been extended? All the other Bush Tax cuts are set to expire … that’s what I call news.
Tax hikes? How does that affect Pahrumpians as most who live here don’t have incomes high enough to be in those increased tax category’s.
However, the absolute worst thing a government can do is raise taxes in a recession. But this government will and end up destroying the ability to create private sector jobs as capital flees offshore.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I’ve been in this town since early 90′s and I’ve never heard of this cop, Bur-whatever. Is he a crooked cop or something?
Gibby. throwing around “be assured i will know more about you in the near future” sounds like a threat to me. also, what effect did your comment have on others?
You people have no clue what or whom you are talking about. These women have not been convicted of anything. I think it would be interesting to see how many of you have any idea what it is like to work with a child with developmental delays or autism. I have personally watched a child hit himself in the face because he had a sinus infection or bang their head on a floor because they rode in a car for too long. I have watched a parent do nothing as the child repeatedly bangs their head on the floor. I have had to tell the parent to make their child stop because the child is hurting themselves. How do we know what was in these children’s IEP’s? Many parents have no clue what is in their child’s IEP, or what their child’s right are. Here’s a little bit of information on Autism from the “My Child Without Limits” Website:
“Autism is a severe developmental disability that generally begins at birth or within the first three years of life. It is the result of a neurological disorder that changes the way the brain functions — causing delays or problems in many different skills from infancy to adulthood. For example, both children and adults with autism usually exhibit difficulties in social interaction as well as in verbal and non-verbal communication. They also tend to be interested in odd, repetitive, or restricted activities. While the majority of autistic children look completely normal, they differ from other children by engaging in perplexing and distressing behaviors.”
We do not know the real details of this case. How do we know that these accusations are true and that these women are so terrible? If you read the posts from the parents of children in this woman’s classroom there are nothing but positive comments. If you do not know the teachers and aides personally, you should not be talking about them and what goes on in their classroom. You think you know so much about the people involved in this case, yet you know nothing. My questions to everyone posting all of this hate and critique on these comments are simple; will you retract these statements if these women are found innocent, will you contact them personally and apologize for assuming their guilt, will you make sure that a teacher and aides have their jobs back? No, you will quickly move on to slander some other person. You do not care that you have passed your judgment so quickly and that these teacher’s lives have been ruined. I hope that you who are so quick to cast your stones at these women are willing to take the stoning if something like this ever happens to you.
very nicely done Krista.i think slander is the key word here. how many of you are going to hind under the bed when this case falls apart? can you take the stoning? Mr. Gibson is already threatening defamation b/c someone simply asked a question. do you really want to be questioned in court regarding your accusations? think about it
Krista, Parents know what is in the IEPs. At least once a year an IEP is written at a meeting inclucing parents or guardians, teachers, therapists etc. And often the principle sits in, and the head of transportation (Cameron). Everyone who attends on IEP meeting signs in. We are also given a phamplet of the students rights every meeting, and we usually get one when our IEP date is set. Parents are allowed to approve these IEPs. They are written together as a team. If there is a punishment written into an IEP everyone at the meeting knows about it. We have never been asked to approve a punishment not even ‘time out’ in all our years in this school district. When the meeting is over we have always been given a complete copy of the IEP. Each parent should have a copy for each year, and also copies of any other meetings throughout the year. The parents are a major part of school year planning. My child has never had these teachers or aides.
I am very happy that you guys are so involved in the IEP process for your child. I have also sat in many IEP meetings where the parents don’t understand a word the special ed teacher, OT, PT, ST, psychological examiner, etc. say and they blindly sign the IEP. I have had to educate parents who have signed over 10 yearly IEPs and have no clue what their child’s goals are. The point of my comment was that the people leaving these negative comments don’t fully understand what it means to care for a child who has special needs.
Well i dont know about others but my son has been in speech thearpy since i came to pahrump 7 years ago and his teachers helped him though a very diffuct time i belive these teacher are innocent until proven gulity. My problem is the way it was handled period.
Hey “t” or whatever your name is. just wanted to know if you are ready to face the people you have accused?
More intimidation tactics…. nice! I’m sure your request will go over really well with the Las Vegas Review Journal. They might have a problem with you trampling all over the 1st amendment.
The comments by Father John prove my earlier point that far too much information is being released by the press for any defendant to have a fair trial in Pahrump. Particularly over a topic as sensitive as child abuse. The Sherriff and the press should not be speculating for every potential jury to educate themselves improperly and in a half baked fashion before it ever comes to court.
Krisa, What is your position at the school that gives you the right to sit in that many IEPs. Parents are not that stupid. IEPs are written in plain english.
Who? ?
I’m disgusted with the PVT as alot of other people I know who don’t subscribe to it. Making editorial headlines did it for me. Till a complete change in the newspaper’s heads happens they’ll never see another dollar from me. Why don’t we all boycott and send letters to Stephens Media telling them how disgusted we are with the way this rag is put in print I don’t expect to see this posted, but it makes me feel good to have these ding-bats have to read this. Yes, I will be talking to the LVRJ and Stephens Media Sincerely W.J. L.