Fifth-grade students say Las Vegas teacher played 'knife tag,' 'roasted' students and flipped desks

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — New documents are outlining the criminal allegations against a Las Vegas fifth-grade teacher accused of child abuse and inappropriate contact with minors.

The Clark County School District's police department previously announced the arrest of Kha Nam Nguyen, a teacher at Wing and Lilly Fong Elementary School in the northwest valley, on March 13.

According to arresting documents, the school opened an investigation into Nguyen, 51, after multiple students reported inappropriate behavior, including the use of derogatory terms in reference to students, allegations of Nguyen "crashing out" and flipping over desks, and reports of "games" students were subjected to in class, including one referred to as "knife tag."

School district police interviewed at least a dozen of Nguyen's students who made similar allegations of inappropriate behavior and acts that they said made them feel uncomfortable and scared, according to the arrest report obtained by Channel 13.

According to the report, students claimed one "game" in Nguyen's class, "knife tag," involved Nguyen pulling a large "cake knife" out of his closet, holding it with a closed fist, and turning off the lights. School administrators who searched Nguyen's classroom told police they found a large, serrated bread knife in a cabinet.

Investigators were also told about a "teddy bear game" in which Nguyen "would have students, predominantly female students, come to his desk. While seated at his desk, he would pretend to be distraught or cry and hug the students as a 'Teddy Bear' to console himself," according to the report. One student told police it made them feel "weird in a bad way."

Some children described Nguyen "shipping" students in the class, where he would gesture at different students and declare they were "dating," the report states. Students told police Nguyen would also warn boys to be wary because girls were "gold diggers," and some recalled Nguyen "roasting" students or referring to them as "special ed" when they answered questions incorrectly.

Nguyen's students also alleged he touched their faces and hair in ways that made them uncomfortable. In interviews with police, they described Nguyen placing his hand under their chin or ears for them to "rest" on. Students also claimed Nguyen would sometimes pretend to fall asleep at his desk, "and that a student would have to hold his head up," the report states.

In an interview with police, Nguyen "stated he had been doing some of these acts for years and justified it as a way to entertain the students along with rapport building," the report states. He denied calling any students "special ed."

"Throughout the interview, Nguyen justified his actions as a way to entertain kids, him just being funny, to gain the class's attention, and for rapport building," investigators wrote. "At one point during the interview, Nguyen mentioned that he could see why some of his actions were weird now that he was talking about it."

The school's principal told police that administrators had previously responded to complaints about Nguyen, including an anonymous complaint about "unprofessional statements" toward students and separate complaints from staff members about "unwanted advances" and "unwanted gifts."

Police determined the allegations against Nguyen were enough to arrest him for five counts of inappropriate contact with a minor or mentally ill person and one count of child abuse or neglect, which they attributed to the "knife tag" exercise.