A Harris County, Texas, elementary school teacher was arrested for allegedly buying and selling drugs over the phone during class.
Local police are cracking down on gang violence involving cocaine, methamphetamine and machine guns, ABC 13 reports. Reported Police noted that they announced 20 arrests on Thursday.
The third grade teacher in the Sheldon Independent School District (ISD), identified as Jessica Ferguson, was caught making a drug deal using a wiretap, authorities said.
Ferguson was arrested on campus, and U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said, “She was at school answering phones and participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy. You can hear children in the background.”
The teacher was subsequently placed on administrative leave.
The arrests come amid an investigation into a gang known as the Rich Kings, which may be linked to a number of murders and shootings dating back to 2020, KPRC reported. Reported On Thursday.
School district said According to KHOU, the school is cooperating with police in the investigation and noted that the teacher's arrest did not take place in front of young students.
The arrested suspects are believed to be members of the Rich Kings gang, “which has operated in southwest Houston for many years and is responsible for drug trafficking, violent crimes and multiple murders throughout the city,” FBI Special Agent Douglas Williams said.
Similarly, in Maryland, a Montgomery County first-grade teacher was arrested in August in connection with a fentanyl overdose death in Washington, D.C., according to Breitbart News.
Police said a man who died of a fentanyl overdose in March had visited the county days before his body was discovered. He reportedly asked suspect Sarah Katherine Magid for Xanax, and text messages recorded her selling it to him several times before his death.
Magid has been suspended from his job at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School and faces multiple felony charges.
“It is worth noting that the Republican National Committee (RNC) announced in June that approximately 30.3 tons of fentanyl have crossed the U.S. southern border since President Joe Biden took office,” the report noted.
