Police have arrested a middle school teacher in Evansville, Indiana, after two students allegedly found an illegal substance in her hair accessory. Sarah Duncan attended a family fun event for Helfrich Park STEM Academy on September 12. She was not only a parent at the school, but also a teacher.
Duncan was reportedly posing for photos with students when she dropped her stash. Minutes later, students found a powdery white substance in a zippered pocket of her hair scrunchie. The substance was later identified as methamphetamines, but it wasn't the only thing she allegedly hid.
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The teacher was with her students, taking photos.
Duncan, 35, was posing in a photo booth around 6 p.m. During the photo session, she dropped her scrunchie, according to a police report obtained by Fox News.
"Both juveniles stated that Duncan let her hair down for the photo," Evansville Police Department officers wrote, per the news outlet. "After the photo, the juveniles cleaned up the area and located a blueish colored velvet-type scrunchie with a white zipper on the table. They noticed the scrunchie was heavier than a typical scrunchie, they opened the zipper pouch and observed a glass vial that contained a white powder substance that the two believed to be drugs along with a cut straw with white powder."
The quick-thinking students went to a trusted adult.
The smart kids knew something wasn't right and found another teacher for help. The teacher told the students to throw away the substance, and she took the scrunchie back to her room, Fox News reported. She reportedly contacted the principal and assistant principal immediately to report the incident.
When Duncan realized the stash was missing, she seemingly panicked.
The event's janitors told police they saw the middle school teacher "frantically searching for some sort of hair tie." Police obtained security footage from the school and saw that Duncan had been wearing the scrunchie earlier in the evening.
The scrunchie allegedly tested positive for meth, and police acted fast.
Two days later, Evansville Police Chief Tim Alford and the school's deputy chief of staff escorted Duncan to a drug test, Fox News reported. The woman apparently came prepared. After her first two samples did not reach the proper temperature, police became suspicious. On a third attempt, police allegedly saw an unauthorized container fall from her shorts, presumably clean urine.
"Duncan stated that she was not aware of the pouch/container in her shorts until after she was providing her second sample," the police report read. "Duncan stated that she does not know how or when the pouch/container got into her shorts that day. Duncan stated that there may be another one of them at her residence but that they were not purchased by her, but by someone she knows who probably uses them to pass drug screens."
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She was arrested and charged.
Police booked the now-former teacher in Vanderburgh County Jail on one count of criminal possession and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Fox News. Per the news outlet, she bonded out of jail with a $1,000 payment and the agreement to attend drug counseling. WFIE confirmed Duncan was fired.
