A former Storey County high school teacher who was fired for inappropriate contact with a student has been arrested on sexual assault charges, authorities said.

William Beeson, a former English and theater arts teacher at Virginia City High School, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at Piper's Opera House, where he serves as program director, said Sgt. Ken Quirk of the Storey County sheriff's office.

Beeson booked on suspicion of one count each of felony sexual assault of a child under 16 and general sexual assault, as well as misdemeanor conduct with a child.

The arrests were a result of a warrant out of Virginia City Justice Court arising from a previous investigation, Quirk said.

Quirk also said the second count of sexual assault is an alternative count if the first count is not successful.

It was not known if the counts involved the same alleged incident or different incidents.

Bail was set at $150,000.

Quirk said several incidents were under investigation by the Storey County Sheriff's Office.

"Cases that we are investigating are several years old," he told the Nevada Appeal.

Beeson was accused in April 2007 of improperly touching a student and was placed on administrative leave by the school district a month later. He was fired in August.

In November he offered a settlement that was rejected by the school board. Under the proposal, Beeson would have been allowed to resign rather than be fired, and the board would have bought out the remaining time on his contract.

In return, Beeson would have waived appeals, given up his teaching credentials and agreed not to seek or accept a similar position anywhere in the United States.

School board members upheld the firing in December, and the matter is now headed to arbitration.