Privileged life of ‘school bully’ charged with leading horrific sex attack on boy during class trip
Vaughn Griffith appeared every bit the model private school boy – clean cut, class president, elite golfer, and the son of prominent local businesspeople.
But police and a classmate’s family claim he was actually a vicious bully who led three other boys in sexually assaulting a 14-year-old schoolmate.
Griffith, 15, was indicted by a grand jury on January 15 and charged as an adult in Las Vegas for allegedly filming the horrific attack during a class trip to Costa Rica.
The tiny cell where he stayed in an adult jail – until he was bailed out for $20,000 by his wealthy parents – was a steep fall from his privileged life.
Griffith was first taken into juvenile detention on July 29 – eight days after he was named ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ by the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association.
The teen’s parents sent him to the $32,500-a-year The Alexander Dawson School in Summerlin, Las Vegas, where he was eighth-grade president.
Parents Seth Griffith and Kristine Lingle-Griffith live with their son and daughter in a $740,000 home, both work high-powered jobs, and are pillars of the community.
Kristine, 51, is vice president of marketing for entertainment promoter AEG Presents Las Vegas and serves on the boards of several charities.
Vaughn Griffith is accused of filming three classmates holding down another student and rape him with a flute on a class trip to Costa Rica. He was arrested eight days after the above photo was taken
Vaughn Griffith pictured alongside his parents, grandparents, sister, aunt and uncle
She was profiled in the Las Vegas Sun and lauded on the cover of Las Vegas Weekly, both after her son’s initial arrest and juvenile charges.
Ironically, one cited her role as a trustee for Olive Crest, ‘supporting its mission to prevent child abuse and strengthen families.’
Seth, 52, is a real estate agent at Realty One Group whose sales average $1 million for each house, including luxury properties around the affluent enclave.
‘Specializing in Summerlin’s premier gated communities and exclusive properties, Seth understands that real estate is more than just a transaction – it’s about securing the right home, lifestyle and long-term investment,’ his bio reads.
The Griffiths live in one of those gated commutes in Summerlin.
They also appear to have other properties squirreled away in family trusts.
Griffith’s uncle Cameron Griffith, 35, is himself a slick real estate agent with his own firm, Griffith Property Group, in Washington, DC.
Fancying himself a real estate influencer, Cameron flaunts his luxurious vacations, multimillion-dollar sales, and attendance at exclusive events.
Cameron also competed on HGTV’s Flipping Showdown in 2021 with his brother Chris Carter, but didn’t make the finals.
He was skiing the slopes of Whistler in Canada with ‘the boys’ when his nephew was indicted.
Vaughn’s mother Kristine, 51, (pictured with Vaughn’s sister) is vice president of marketing for entertainment promoter AEG Presents Las Vegas and serves on the board of several charities
Kristine was profiled in the Las Vegas Sun and lauded on the cover of Las Vegas Weekly, both after her son’s initial arrest and juvenile charges
Griffith’s aunt Brooke Coxen is the managing partner of yet another real estate brokerage, Magenta Real Estate, in Las Vegas.
She describes the firm as ‘blending design and intention to create harmonious, supportive spaces. Inspired by dance and the art of movement.’
The family are regulars at the Siena Golf Club, where memberships cost up to $11,500 a year.
Now Griffith is charged with possessing a visual presentation depicting the sexual conduct of a child – a category B felony punishable by one to six years in prison.
Another boy who allegedly shared the video was charged as a minor and will face court later this year.
That boy threatened to show the footage to female students and tell them the victim ‘wanted to be sexually assaulted because he was gay’ if he reported the attack.
A lawsuit filed in the Nevada District Court in Las Vegas against The Alexander Dawson School claims the alleged sexual assault was a long time coming.
Griffith and his cronies tormented the boy mercilessly from when he started at the school at age 10, with ‘years of escalated, documented bullying that culminated in a brutal sexual assault,’ the complaint claimed.
Vaughn’s father Seth, 52, (pictured with his wife) is a real estate agent at Realty One Group whose sales average $1million for each house, including luxury properties around the affluent enclave
Vaughn’s aunt Brooke Coxen (pictured left with Kristine and their father, Barry) is the managing partner of yet another realtor, Magenta Real Estate, in Las Vegas
The children were claimed to be a gang that bullied both girls and boys between at least 2021 and spring 2025, which the school did little to stop.
The bullying was so bad that some families removed their children from the school, the lawsuit claimed.
‘By refusing to intervene, the school emboldened the bullies and allowed their behavior to intensify. The sexual assault that followed was tragically foreseeable,’ it read.
‘The risk was clear and escalating. Yet the school minimized and/or dismissed the conduct as “boys being boys,” failed to invoke or enforce its own rules, policies and procedures, and imposed no meaningful disciplinary actions on the perpetrators.’
The lawsuit claimed the victim was told he ‘should just get over it’ and blamed him for the abuse he allegedly suffered.
The bullying allegedly hit a crescendo when the class took a trip to Costa Rica last April, when Griffith was just 14.
The boys bullied the victim, stripping him naked and throwing his clothes on the balcony at Hotel Manuel Antonio, police alleged.
Vaughn’s uncle Cameron Griffith, 35, is also a real estate agent with his own firm, Griffith Property Group, in Washington, DC
Cameron was skiing the slopes of Whistler in Canada when his nephew was indicted
Fancying himself a real estate influencer, Cameron flaunts his luxurious vacations, multimillion-dollar sales and attendance at exclusive events
Two days later, the boys allegedly ‘pinned him down and pulled his pants and underwear [down]’ on a bed and sexually assaulted him.
The lawsuit claims that the bullies told him ‘they were going to rape him.’
Griffith’s indictment painfully details the ‘graphic and violent sexual assault’ as seen in a two minute and 16 second video he allegedly posted on Snapchat and saved in his memories.
The teen was shown being held down on the bed and clearly under stress as the boys held him in place.
‘The camera angle then reverses back to show Vaughn Griffith and the boys start laughing,’ police wrote.
The description of the video alleged that the victim yelled as he was repeatedly punched by the other boys, who laughed at his attempts to end their attack.
He was then allegedly sexually assaulted with a flute, a Chapstick tube, and toothpaste as he cried and screamed in pain and his attackers laughed.
‘Victim, because he did not like what was occurring, attempted to get up and leave, but could not get up,’ police alleged.
‘Victim stated at this point he saw the group spray sunscreen and toothpaste into his anus, causing it to burn.’
Cameron (2nd from left) competed on Flipping Showdown on HGTV in 2021 with his brother Chris Carter (left) with hosts Ken and Anita Corsini
Cameron with his mother Denise, who is Vaughn’s step-grandmother
One boy urged him to fight back, but Griffith allegedly told him that if he did, they would cut off his penis.
The victim eventually managed to free himself and escape, but the boys allegedly continued to mock him.
‘Some of the last words heard are one boy stating, “It’s clearly sexual,” and another boy saying, “Assault,”‘ police wrote.
‘The camera angle turns to the person recording, displaying Vaughn Griffith’s face.’
The victim’s lawsuit named five school employees listed as chaperones on the trip, including the principal, whom the family claimed failed to stop the attack.
One of them ‘was staying in the room right next door but never came to Jack’s aid during the beating and sexual assault despite [the victim’s] screams,’ it claimed.
The lawsuit also explained how the expensive school skimped on costs by cramming four students into each hotel room – two in each bed – and gave them an hour per day with no supervision.
The victim initially kept quiet about the alleged sexual assault because he ‘didn’t want them to get in trouble.’
He even lied to school staff when he and four other boys were questioned about reports they were spanking each other. They all claimed it was just harmless horseplay and no action was taken.
However, a student who saw the video was so disturbed he told his stepmother about the alleged assault, who reported it to school principal Roxanne Stansbury.
Griffith appeared in court earlier this month after the grand jury indictment was handed down. He pleaded not guilty
Griffith and the other boys were staying at the Hotel Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica last April when their bullying allegedly escalated to sexual assault
Police began investigating in May and later discovered the horrific video of the attack, court documents detailed.
Local police in Costa Rica would have to press charges for the assault itself, and earlier this month said they didn’t even know about the allegations.
Griffith was able to be charged because he allegedly still had the video on his phone when it was searched by investigators, police said.
Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marquis ordered in October that he be charged as an adult due to the seriousness of the charges.
His alleged ‘possession of a video depicting a horrific group sexual assault of his classmate was heinous and egregious’ she wrote in her decision.
Judge Marquis wrote that Griffith ‘certainly comes from a supportive family, attended a private school, maintained an excellent GPA, was elected class president and is an award-winning, elite golfer.’
However, she ruled that had little bearing on the case and a short stay in juvenile detention was inappropriate given the alleged crime.
‘The safety of the community requires transfer to the adult system,’ she wrote.
‘Certainly there are criminal offenses which are so heinous and so outrageous that standing alone they would require transfer even absent a record of prior criminal activity.’
Judge Marquis overruled Greg Harder, a licensed psychologist, who evaluated Griffith after he was in detention for about a month.
Harder recommended Griffith’s case be handled by the juvenile court system and insisted there was no evidence the teen was a sexual predator.
The horrific assault is said to have taken place during a private school trip to Costa Rica
Griffith was eighth grade class president at $32,500-a-year The Alexander Dawson School in Summerlin, Nevada
Griffith appeared in court earlier this month after the grand jury indictment was handed down, and he pleaded not guilty.
He was released on a $20,000 bond posted by his family and ordered to not use the internet except for school, not contact the victim, stay away from minors except his sibling, surrender his passport and stay out of trouble.
The teen will next face court on June 23 with a trial date set for October.
Griffith’s lawyer Joshua Judd said the boy was being treated unfairly by being the only one charged as an adult.
‘We are concerned about what is clearly disparate treatment between how Vaughn is being treated compared to other, similarly situated individuals,’ he told 8 News.
‘Nonetheless, we look forward to defending Vaughn in this case.’
The Alexander Dawson School’s lawyers said it was aware of the ‘serious allegations involving male middle school students’ during the Costa Rica trip.
‘We take any such allegations incredibly seriously and promptly reported them to law enforcement once brought to our attention.
‘Because the alleged misconduct occurred among middle school students, we cannot comment any further at this time.’
