The case centers on allegations that an orchestra teacher had an improper relationship with a 16-year-old student.
LAS VEGAS, NV — A Clark County grand jury has indicted a former Las Vegas High School orchestra teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a student, weeks after police arrested him on felony charges tied to alleged contact with a 16-year-old girl.
Jordan Bushey, 36, was first arrested Feb. 23 after Las Vegas police said they were investigating sexually based crimes involving a pupil. The new indictment moves the case from the early arrest stage into formal district court proceedings and sharpens attention on what prosecutors believe they can prove to a jury. The case has also raised new questions for the Clark County School District, where Bushey worked at Las Vegas High School, because detectives have said they are trying to determine whether there were other victims.
Police said the investigation began after the student’s older sister contacted officers on Feb. 21 and reported that the girl had said she was dating her teacher. Detectives later identified that teacher as Bushey, who was listed by the school as its orchestra director. According to police accounts published after the arrest, the student said she had transferred from Silverado High School to Las Vegas High School and had been having trouble making friends. She told investigators she spent time in the orchestra room during lunch and after school, and that her relationship with Bushey changed over time from what she described as a normal student-teacher connection into something more personal. The student said the contact became closer in the fall and “escalated fast” around December and January, according to an arrest report summarized by local outlets. Police said Bushey was arrested Feb. 23 and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on six counts of a school employee engaging in a sex act with a pupil and one count of unlawful communication between a person of authority and a pupil.
By late March, the case had changed shape. Social posts and broadcast reports from Las Vegas outlets said a grand jury returned an indictment Wednesday on five counts of sexual conduct between a school employee and a student. That count total differs from the arrest booking, which listed six sex-act counts and one communication count, a shift that is not unusual as prosecutors review evidence before filing a formal indictment. What remains unclear from the public reporting is whether one allegation was dropped, combined with another count, or reserved for a later filing. Public reports available Sunday did not include the full indictment language, so the exact wording of each charge and the dates attached to each count were not immediately clear. The student, according to earlier police accounts, told detectives she and Bushey communicated through school-related and social media apps, including Band, Remind and TikTok. Investigators said she described kissing and touching that happened after school and in a parking area near her apartment complex. Bushey, according to one published account of the arrest report, told police he and the student were “boyfriend and girlfriend.”
The setting is a large, well-known public campus in the Clark County School District, the nation’s fifth-largest school system. Las Vegas High School sits east of downtown and serves students from several neighborhoods across the valley. Bushey’s job as orchestra director placed him in daily contact with teenagers in class, rehearsals and performances, a role police highlighted when they said they believed there could be additional victims because of his ties to local youth students. In a note to families after the arrest, Principal Raymond Ortiz said student safety was the school’s top priority. The district has not publicly detailed whether Bushey resigned, was fired or remains on leave, though at least one local report has since referred to him as a former teacher. The case also arrives as Nevada schools, like districts elsewhere, face repeated scrutiny over how quickly adults in positions of authority are flagged when contact with students moves from school-related messages to private exchanges. In this case, the sister’s report appears to have been the event that pushed the allegations into a criminal investigation.
The next steps are expected to unfold in Clark County District Court, where a defendant who has been indicted would typically be arraigned and asked to enter a plea. Prosecutors will have to turn over evidence they intend to use, and defense lawyers will have opportunities to challenge the charges, the evidence or both. No trial date was publicly confirmed in the reporting available Sunday. It also was not clear whether Bushey had entered a plea on the indictment or whether a defense attorney had made a public statement responding to the grand jury action. The prosecution’s burden, if the case moves forward, will be to prove each count beyond a reasonable doubt. For investigators, the case may still be open in another sense. Police said after the arrest that they were seeking additional victims, and that message remained central to early coverage because of Bushey’s access to students through school music programs. Whether more alleged victims or witnesses come forward could shape both the scope and the timeline of the case.
The facts already made public sketch a case that prosecutors are likely to present as one built on messages, interviews and a timeline of contact that developed around daily school life. The student told detectives she ate lunch in the orchestra room with other students, met with Bushey after school and leaned on him during a rough stretch after a breakup, according to the arrest report accounts. She said he comforted her, bought her snacks and complimented her. Investigators later described those interactions as part of a pattern that moved past school boundaries. For families at the school, the allegations landed in one of the places many students know best: a classroom built around performance, practice and trust. For now, the criminal case is at the indictment stage, and the central facts that will matter most in court remain the evidence prosecutors can place before jurors and whatever explanation the defense offers in response.
The case now stands at a more serious stage than it did at the time of Bushey’s February arrest: a grand jury has acted, the charges are narrower but still severe, and the court process ahead will determine whether the allegations proceed to trial. The next public milestone is expected to be an arraignment or other district court hearing in Clark County.
Author note: Last updated March 29, 2026.