To print this page, please select Print from the File menu of your browser.

- - - - - - -
By Jason Jackson

LAS VEGAS, May 29, 1999 -- The son of overnight radio host Art Bell has filed a federal lawsuit against an AIDS-stricken substitute teacher convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting him, according to court documents.

Brian Lepley, sentenced to life in prison last year for engaging in sexual acts with Arthur Bell IV, then 16, and an unidentified 18-year-old man, is listed as a defendant in the suit along with the Nye County School District, district superintendent Geraldine Harge and Jerry Hill, the principal of Pahrump Valley High School. The younger Bell and his parents are listed as plaintiffs.

Bell's son was a student at Pahrump Valley High School from August 1996 to May 1997, during which time Lepley was a substitute teacher at the school.

According to the complaint, Lepley abducted the student, then 16, and took him to Tecopa Hot Springs, a trailer village near the desert town of Shoshone, Calif. While there, Lepley bound the boy in chains and committed various sexual acts on him.

In the complaint, the Bells claim the school district permits sexual relations between teachers and students.

"Harge and Hill have known about sexual relations between teachers and students for years, and yet have failed to take any action to prevent teachers from sexually harassing students by investigating claims of sexual harassment or misconduct, disciplining the teachers, or seeking to educate and protect potential victims -- the school's students," said the Bells in the suit.

The plaintiffs also claim Harge knew of Lepley's history of sexual offenses and banned him in 1995 from working at local middle schools after parents complained.

The Bells filed the complaint in November as "John and Jane Doe, the natural parents of Peter Doe, a minor." However, U.S. District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson threatened on May 14 to dismiss the suit unless the plaintiffs added their real names within 30 days.

Bell's son suffered physical injuries and severe mental and emotional distress as a result of the abduction and assault, according to the suit.

'Terrible Event' Forced Bell to Leave Show

The crime against his son was one reason Bell announced in October that he was leaving the airwaves for good.

"You may recall about a year ago, I told you that there was an event -- a threatening, terrible event occurred to my family -- which I could not tell you about," Bell said during that October broadcast. "Because of that event and a succession of other events, what you're listening to right now is my final broadcast on the air."

The announcement sent executives at Premiere Radio Networks, the Jacor Communications subsidiary that syndicates Bell's program to more than 450 stations nationwide, scurrying through the halls in search of information about Bell's departure. At one point, a program director from Bell's affiliate in Los Angeles chartered a plane and flew to rural Pahrump, Nev., from which Bell's show is broadcast, to speak face-to-face with the popular host.

Bell returned to the airwaves two weeks later but left the door open to another departure. "The difficulties that caused me to so unexpectedly and quickly leave the air have not been resolved yet," Bell said.

Bell also filed suit Thursday against two former guests on his show who claim the radio host was involved in a child pornography ring near Monterey, Calif., in the 1970s. Bell denied the allegations, stating the pair conspired to slander him.

Originally published on RadioDigest.com.

- - - - - - -

Return to News Reporting section of Jackson Writes!