LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A former Clark County School District assistant principal will spend time in prison after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct.
Hearley Smith worked at Canyon Springs High School in North Las Vegas. In March 2025, he was arrested on 22 charges, including lewdness in the presence of a child, engaging in a sex act with a pupil 16 or older, and first-degree kidnapping.
According to an arrest report, Smith first met the student while working with the wrestling team. Federal court records state Smith groomed the student in order to "coerce him into lewd and sexually oriented behavior". That included meeting the student in his office with the door locked and forcing him to perform sexual acts as well as driving the student off-campus to perform sex acts.
Court records state that Smith pulled the student out of class 131 times and of that, he committed lewd acts on the student over 80 times.
"When Defendant Smith would pull [the student] from class, he would enter into the CCSD attendance system and change [the student's] attendance to indicate he was present in class, when he was not," the amended complaint states in part. "Defendants CCSD and Adam Canfield [Canyon Springs principal] were aware that [the student] was being pulled out of class, missing instruction and that his attendance was being manipulated."
According to the complaint, wrestling coaches at the school received several complaints from parents and students regarding Smith's inappropriate behavior and him touching students.
It goes on to state the coaches prevented Smith from entering the wrestling room with students alone, based on student complaints, but "did not report his behavior to administration, Child Protective Services, call the police or preclude Defendant Smith from being around children altogether."
Court records also included a text message that wrestling coach Allen Frischmann allegedly sent to students after a complaint was filed against Smith.
Attorneys for the student and the student's family argue that district staff didn't do enough to protect students.
"CCSD has a long history of educator sexual misconduct that constitutes a pattern of failure to protect students from a known hazard: sexual harassment and sexual assault," the amended complaint reads in part. "Despite its clear knowledge of the problem, CCSD has failed to meet its obligations under Nevada and United States statutes for over a decade."
The amended complaint then lists over two dozen incidents since 2008 where CCSD staff have been arrested or faced discipline regarding sexual misconduct.
We reached out to CCSD to see if they would like to comment on the lawsuit, but their typical policy is not to comment on pending litigation.
As for Smith, he was in court last week to be sentenced. He reached a guilty plea agreement with prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty to one count of second-degree kidnapping and two counts of sexual conduct between certain employees or volunteers of school and pupil.
On Tuesday, Judge Erika Mendoza sentenced Smith to eight to 20 years in prison and he must register as a sex offender.
As for the federal case against Smith, several wrestling coaches, and CCSD, it's still progressing. The docket states the discovery deadline is set for July 30.