Jesse Lee Santos
Published Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020 | 1:24 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020 | 6:15 p.m.
A North Las Vegas instructor groomed a young dancer and sexually assaulted him over a two-year period, holding his dream of dancing professionally over his head, North Las Vegas Police allege.
Jesse Lee Santos, who was arrested Wednesday, is facing a total of 17 counts, including sexual assault, lewdness with a minor, sexual contact between a school employee and student, child abuse and “intentional transmission of HIV,” police said.
Police said Santos is being held in the Las Vegas detention center.
Santos is the owner and director of JLS Entertainment Inc., which is registered to a North Las Vegas home. Police said he’s danced with prominent pop stars and has performed at coveted award shows.
Metro Police tipped off North Las Vegas investigators of the allegations in late June, when the victim, who is now an adult, came forward.
The victim told detectives that Santos was his high school dance teacher from 2015 to 2017, when the victim was between 15 and 17 years old, according to Santos’ arrest report.
The victim said Santos groomed dancers at the unidentified high school, and outside of it, taking them to dance competitions out of state and employing them at his company, police said.
It wasn’t clear which high school employed Santos, or if it was part of the Clark County School District, which couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Over the two-year period, the victim alleges Santos would sexually assault him when he would stay over at Santos’ North Las Vegas home the nights before trips, and when they were outside Nevada, police said. The victim estimated that he was sexually assaulted 10 to 15 times.
The harassment began with unwanted touching and escalated to sexual assault, which the victim would wake up to, according to the arrest report.
The victim told detectives that “Jesse always told him that he could blacklist him to keep him from dancing again, thus ruining his dream,” the arrest report reads. “(The victim) said he did not want to tell his mother or anybody else what was happening because she had invested a lot of time and money, and because it was embarrassing.”
Santos, who denied the allegations, was taken into custody Wednesday morning after SWAT raided his house.
It wasn’t clear if Santos has legal representation who could comment on his behalf.
Anyone with information can contact police at 702-633-1773. North Las Vegas Police Detective Jorge Correa can be reached at: [email protected]. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or crimestoppersofnv.com.
