Kristine Lingle-Griffith looked like she was on top of the world.

Smiling and chic in all black, the entertainment executive appeared on the September cover of Las Vegas Weekly’s “Women Inspiring Nevada” issue.

The magazine wrote that Lingle-Griffith “helped redefine Las Vegas entertainment” as vice president of marketing for AEG Presents Las Vegas, which books and promotes concerts and manages venues. The publication praised her service to the community as a board member of Olive Crest, a nonprofit that works to prevent child abuse.

Kristine Lingle-Griffith, left, and her husband, Seth Griffith, parents of Vaughn Griffith, leave after attending a court hearing at the Regional Justice Center on Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @bizutesfaye

Yet her world was shattering. The day before the magazine appeared on newsstands, a prosecutor had argued in Juvenile Court that her 14-year-old son should be tried as an adult in connection with the sexual assault of a classmate.

Authorities accused Vaughn Griffith, now 15, and three other boys of assaulting another boy during a class trip to Costa Rica last April. He also is accused of videotaping the assault, and he has been indicted on a felony charge related to possessing images of it.

The four boys “gang raped” the victim, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Stacy Kollins during a hearing for the only other boy to be charged in the case. That boy, Dominic Kim, has been indicted on charges related to possessing and showing images of the assault.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said his office does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the assault itself because it occurred abroad. Some attorneys say federal charges still could be brought.

All the boys were eighth graders at The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain, a preschool-through-eighth-grade private school in Summerlin — a master-planned community of tree-lined streets, carefully tended parks and expensive homes on the western edge of Las Vegas.

The case has shocked the Las Vegas Valley while challenging notions of private schools as safe havens and raising questions about what constitutes justice.

In October, a judge granted the state’s petition to transfer Griffith to the adult criminal justice system. In January, a grand jury indicted Griffith on a felony count of “possession of visual presentation depicting sexual conduct of a child.”

Vaughn Griffith, left, appears with attorneys Joshua Judd and Anthony Sgro, right, at the Regional Justice Center on March 12, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The charge relates to Griffith’s alleged possession of images of the assault that investigators tied to his Snapchat account with the user name “Vonissexy,” according to court records.

Seth Griffith, his father, is a real estate agent with listings of multimillion-dollar houses in some of Summerlin’s most exclusive neighborhoods. In an interview with a psychologist evaluating Vaughn Griffith for the court, Seth Griffith described his son as a good student, a “well-adjusted young man” and “golf prodigy,” the evaluation states.

A July 21 Instagram post shows Vaughn Griffith with a trophy after being named the Sportsperson of the Year for boys ages 13 to 18 by the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association. Eight days later, he was taken into custody.

Tony Sgro, an attorney for the Griffith family, said the parents would not be commenting.

Sgro argued on April 9 in District Court that the judge assigned to the case should be disqualified for comments showing bias. In his remarks to the court, Sgro stated that the two boys who had been charged were “not the primary actors in this case.”

The attorney also bemoaned what he described as sensationalism on social media and by the news media.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal typically does not identify juvenile suspects unless they have been certified to stand trial as adults. It also typically does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Dominic Kim appears in court during a hearing at the Regional Justice Center on March 10, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @bizutesfaye Not ‘boys will be boys’

The four teens are alleged in police and court documents to have pinned down their classmate before assaulting him. One of the boys who has not been charged is shown on videotape inserting a ChapStick into the anus of the victim as he cries and screams, and Kim is shown inserting a flute or “flute-like instrument,” according to arrest reports. The other boy who has not been charged is alleged in arrest reports to have inserted his penis.

Video footage is key evidence in the case. Images include Vaughn Griffith videotaping himself, the victim and three others during the assault, according to a police description of the video. Audio includes an additional boy on the sidelines, who has not been accused of any crime, saying “fight back,” according to a description in Griffith’s police report. Griffith is heard saying that if the victim fights back, they will cut off his penis, according to the description.

Kim, now 15, also has been certified as an adult and faces charges related to possessing and showing images of the assault tied to his Snapchat account with the user name “Cucumbers345.” The two other teens involved, who are not facing charges, have not been tied to possession of images of the assault.

On April 3, prosecutors announced that a grand jury had indicted Kim on felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, and child abuse, neglect or endangerment. He is accused of showing images of the assault to other teens, potentially causing “unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering.”

At Kim’s certification hearing on March 5, Kollins from the district attorney’s office emphasized the seriousness of the allegations.

“Whatever the motivation is, it is not ‘boys will be boys,’” she said.

Josh Tomsheck, an attorney for Kim, described his client as “a child acting stupid” and trying to fit in, immature but not a threat to the community.

Kim exhibited exemplary behavior during 220 days in juvenile detention, Tomsheck said.

“This is an individual who has been shaken to his core as a result of what he did,” the attorney said.

Kollins said the victim considered his attackers to be his friends and did not report the matter to avoid getting them in trouble. The perpetrators tormented the victim by threatening to show the images to more students, including girls, if he told on them, she said. The victim pleaded with Kim to stop showing the images, the prosecutor said.

The matter was not reported to authorities until May, after a student told his parents that Kim had shown him footage of the assault during a welcome party for incoming students at The Meadows School, a preschool-through-12th-grade private school in Summerlin, according to police reports. Other students came forward to say they had seen assault images.

Meadows representatives declined to comment on any ripple effects on the school.

“We remain proud of the way our students, faculty, and staff consistently approach situations with professionalism, care, and a commitment to our core values,” Meadows spokesperson Matt Boland wrote in an email. “However, at this time, we have no comment on this matter.”

At Kim’s certification hearing, the victim’s parents sat in the front row of the small courtroom. The father did not look at a screen showing still images of the assault. Judge Dee Butler denied Kollins’ requests to allow a video with more graphic images to be shown in court.

Kim’s father and mother, Michael and Sun Hwa “Kimmie” Kim, sat directly behind the victim’s parents. Michael Kim’s eyes were often closed, his hands clasped. Dominic is their only child.

Dominic Kim, right, enters a courtroom with his parents, Sun Hwa "Kimmie," left, and Michael Kim, during a hearing at the Regional Justice Center on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Reached by phone this month, Michael Kim, an investor and investment adviser, said, “I have no comment, please.”

The Kims for several years have been renovating a home at The Ridges, a guarded-entry community of luxury custom homes and panoramic views. The community is described on real estate websites as the “crown jewel of Summerlin.”

The Kim family has never moved into the house, said neighbors, who declined to speak on the record.

If given the chance, the Kims would leave Las Vegas, homeschool their son and get him further treatment for “overwhelming feelings of loathing and self-hatred and suicidal ideations that he has suffered as a result of this incident,” Tomsheck said in court.

To “put him in the adult system with that mental framework is a recipe for disaster,” the attorney said.

In the adult system, the teens face adult prison sentences rather than juvenile detention, along with permanent criminal records.

Juvenile Court Judge Dee Butler responds to defense attorney Joel Mann during a hearing at Clark County Juvenile Court on March 5, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto

In certifying Dominic Kim to be tried as an adult, Judge Butler described the allegations against him as “serious, heinous and egregious.”

Following the hearing, the mother of the victim told the Review-Journal, “I’m very grateful to see justice being done, and I look forward to continuing to see justice be done for my son and for the community. Because as a community, we’re all hurting.”

Bail of $20,000 was posted for Vaughn Griffith in October, court records show. His bail conditions include high-level electronic monitoring, passport surrender, no contact with minors except his sister, no internet except for school purposes, and staying out of trouble.

Bail of $30,000 was posted for Kim in March, court records show. His bail conditions were similar, additionally permitting the use of a flip phone with no internet access for monitoring purposes, and “home school only.”

The Clark County School District confirmed that a student is enrolled under the name of one of the four accused teens. This student, who has not been charged, has been attending the Nevada Learning Academy, an online school, according to a district spokesperson. A sports website lists the teen as attending a different online school.

The district has no record showing that a student with the name of the other uncharged teen is currently attending a district high school, according to the spokesperson. This student and his family are believed to be living out of state, said Renee Finch, an attorney representing Meadows students who told their parents they had been shown the images. One of the Meadows students had been bullied by the teens accused in the assault, according to Kim’s arrest report.

A multi-image aerial panoramic of The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain on Feb. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images ‘Trying to cover this up’

After news broke of the assault, a social media maelstrom ensued, with commenters expressing horror over the allegations.

One commenter on Reddit, Exciting-Current-351, said she had contacted the FBI, White House, police in Costa Rica and the U.S. Embassy to seek prosecution of all the teens. She called for punishment to the fullest extent of the law.

In a phone conversation, she said she had a son of roughly the same age attending a different private school that she would not name publicly. She spoke to a reporter on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation against her son.

“I honestly didn’t sleep for weeks, just thinking about how are these kids able to continue living their lives?” she said. “Where’s the justice?”

Commenters also have criticized the school. A popular theme has been that a snooty school turned a blind eye to bad behavior by self-entitled rich kids, leading to a tragic turn of events.

“People send their kids to private school because they think it’s safer, money makes it safer because the poors are the reason for crime,” wrote Any-Project9162 on Reddit. “The more money spent the more elitist the attitudes and the more gets swept under the rug.”

The blows to the school’s reputation have continued.

In February, the parents of the victim filed a lawsuit against the school and its officials, claiming they had downplayed the family’s complaints about bullying, emboldening the “bully perpetrators” to escalate their attacks.

The lawsuit refers to the victim as Jack Doe.

“Rather than meet the escalating outrageous behavior with escalating intervention and discipline, Dawson consistently minimized, dismissed and/or excused the repeated reports and complaints as ‘boys being boys’ and/or by accusing Jack of being overly sensitive,” the lawsuit states.

The repercussions for the school at this point are uncertain. A recent open house for the school’s summer camp was sparsely attended, with as many staff members in attendance as parents. A scheduled school tour was canceled due to lack of interest.

Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School, the largest private school in Southern Nevada, has received inquiries from Dawson parents about transferring their children, according to a staff member, adding that its middle school had no openings. The Review-Journal granted the staff member anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the school.

Tyler Fegert said his son, a sixth grader at Dawson, is on a waiting list at Faith Lutheran. Fegert criticized Dawson for not informing parents of the assault until after the news media began to report on it.

Vaughn Griffith, right, leaves the courtroom after a hearing at the Regional Justice Center on March 12, 2026, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

“Bad things happen, but it’s what you do after” that counts, said Fegert, a land developer.

He believes school administrators ought to have promptly provided parents with details about the allegations so they could make informed decisions regarding their children.

“I highly believe they were trying to cover this up,” he said.

He has been banned from campus for what he described as his complaints over lack of transparency, including in response to his questions about the display of a small LGBTQ flag.

On social media, some posters who said they had children at Dawson expressed disappointment that they had learned of the matter through media reports.

Head of School Roxanne Stansbury did not respond to phone messages left at the school.

In a communication with Dawson alumni, Stansbury wrote, “We are deeply saddened by the information reported in the media regarding the alleged sexual assault that took place on last year’s 8th-grade trip. …

“While disciplinary actions are confidential and not publicly disclosed, confidentiality does not equate to inaction or disregard. In this situation, the school immediately notified law enforcement and cooperated fully with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. We were not informed of the investigation’s outcome and, like many in our community, learned details through the media report.”

Most Dawson parents contacted by the Review-Journal did not respond to requests for comment. They included two of the school’s largest donors: billionaire casino mogul Phil Ruffin and businessman Perry Rogers, agent to NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

An exception was Tom Kaplan, a major donor with a son in the eighth grade.

“We have the highest regard for the school — its academics, leadership and overall culture,” said Kaplan, an executive with the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group. “Nothing that has been suggested or implied at this point dampens that at all.”

About the school’s leadership, he said, “They are, in my opinion, nothing but honest, straightforward, caring, kind individuals.”

Another donor with a son at the school said many parents are trying to make sense of what happened.

“I can’t in any way in my mind tie it back to the school,” said the parent, who spoke with a reporter only on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his child. “Dawson is the place you send the kid when you want them to be a good person. Meadows is where you send them when you want them to be a physicist.”

Entrance to The Alexander Dawson School at Rainbow Mountain along West Desert Inn Road on Feb. 3, 2026, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images

Diane Lee’s son was in the eighth grade class of the teens associated with the assault, what she described as a close-knit group of 57 students. Her son did not go on the trip to Costa Rica and was not aware that anything had occurred, she wrote in an email exchange with a reporter.

“For our family, whenever we had issues at the school, the teachers and administrators have responded promptly and acted swiftly,” she said. In her family’s experience, “The Dawson community — including the teachers and staff — has always been loving, nurturing, and supportive.”

She noted that it was her family’s 11th year at the school, and that she and her husband, lawyers with their own firm, often participate in interviewing prospective faculty members.

“How we are treated at Dawson may be different from other families’ experiences,” she wrote.

FOUNDER BUILT FAMED HOUSE

Dawson School founder Jerry Henderson built underground house east of the Strip

She expects her younger son, who is in the seventh grade, to graduate from Dawson next year. “Nevertheless, we continue to stand with the victim and his family and hope they find peace and comfort.”

Her younger son wanted to stay at the school he has attended since age 3.

“We have kept our younger son at Dawson despite the fallout from the Costa Rica trip,” she wrote. “It is unfortunate that this horrific incident will forever taint the Dawson name and reputation.”

If you’re thinking about suicide, or are worried about a friend or loved one, help is available 24/7 by calling or texting the Lifeline network at 988. Live chat is available at 988lifeline.org. Additionally, the Crisis Text Line is a free, national service available 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team. Staff writers Akiya Dillon and Noble Brigham contributed to this report.