A school police officer and the former assistant principal of a Texas middle school have both been arrested after being accused of planting a vape pen containing THC on multiple students last year.
Andrew Gonzalez of the Clear Creek Independent School District, and former assistant principal of Hamlin Middle School, Amanda Lee Corona, allegedly planted the vape pen in March 2023, as reported by KRIS 6 News.
Last year, an investigator from the Nueces County Sheriff's Criminal Investigation Unit was called in to explore the allegations surrounding the vape pens and who they actually belonged to. He was given a recording in which Corona and Gonzalez can allegedly be heard planning to place the pen into a student's backpack after finding it behind a filing cabinet during a backpack search, reported KRIS 6 News.
Afterward, the student whose backpack contained the pen was disciplined for the discovery. School officials proceeded to punish a second student after the initial student alleged that the pen belonged to the other student. A third student also faced repercussions after the same pen was discovered within his binder.
"The audio recording recorded a conversation between Andrew Gonzalez and Amanda Corona talking about a vape pen they found behind a filing cabinet in the classroom that contained THC wax (marijuana)," arrest documents obtained by KRIS 6 News stated. "Both Andrew Gonzalez and Amanda Corona agreed to falsely accuse Hamlin Middle School student (redacted) of being in possession of the vape pen placing it into his backpack. (Redacted) received discipline by the school for the false accusation."
Corona has been charged with tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair and official oppression. Gonzalez has been charged with intent to impair and official oppression.
"I know this is her career and I do feel bad, I do feel bad for her, but I feel like, does she need to be an assistant principal anywhere around children? No," Yvonne Gatica, the mother of one of the children who was falsely accused, told the outlet. "Not if it's that easy for her to just say, 'Hey, let's put this on (redacted).'"
"What about if I hadn't, you know, got a hold of the recording? (Redacted) would have been in trouble and that would have been on his record and not only (redacted) but who else did they do it to? What other kids did they do it to? Because it was so easy in that conversation that was recorded... And so easy for the police officer to also agree to plant something in a 12-year-old's backpack that was illegal that they would have charged him with," Gatica continued.
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