Former Henderson assistant principal sentenced for soliciting students

A former Henderson assistant principal was sentenced to one to six years in prison this week after he attempted to solicit sex from students, including telling a girl he had dreams of her wearing lingerie.

Howard Hughes, 63, pleaded guilty in March to one count of unlawful contact with a minor, along with one count of child abuse. The charges stemmed from a 2024 investigation at Webb Middle School, where Hughes had worked.

Court records show District Court Judge Tina Talim on Monday ordered Hughes to serve lifetime supervised probation or parole after he is released from prison.

An eighth grader at the school told a grand jury that Hughes regularly invited her to his office, where he would make inappropriate comments about her body.

During one conversation, Hughes asked the girl to download WhatsApp so that he could communicate with her discreetly. In another, he told her that he wanted to have sex with her overseas because the age of consent was lower, she said.

“I vividly remember that he would always make comments like, ‘Wow, you got me erect,’” the girl stated in court transcripts. “I do struggle with mental health, and it was just a lot for me to take in because I didn’t know how to handle or respond to any of the things that he would say to me.”

Another girl, about 13 at the time, said she developed a relationship with Hughes after being sent to his office for disciplinary reasons.

Hughes told her she had a “great body” and, at one point, asked her to send him a video of her masturbating.

One of the girls secretly recorded her conversations with Hughes in February 2024, later sharing them with her parents and police.

Clark County School District police detective Christian Tiu said in one recording Hughes told the girl that he felt true love for her.

“Dr. Hughes says, ‘But I have a lot of respect for you and will always treat you like a lady before and after the magical moment comes,” the detective said in the transcripts.

About a month after the conversation was recorded, Hughes was arrested in Texas.

Along with his sentence, Hughes must also pay thousands of dollars in fees related to his extradition and psychosexual evaluation.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.