South Carolina Teacher Arrested After Student Takes Marijuana from Prize Box
A 27-year old elementary school teacher in South Carolina was arrested after her student picked marijuana gummies from a prize box, authorities say.
A South Carolina sheriff’s office also searched her home and found four more bags of edibles.
Victoria Farish Weiss, who turned herself in to authorities Friday, was charged with one count of possession of a Schedule 1 drug, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Facebook.
The Sheriff’s office became involved on September 23 when it was alerted that a student at Rocky Creek Elementary School had pulled a bag of marijuana edibles from a prize box in Weiss’ classroom that was used to “reward students.”
WIS-TV reported that authorities said Weiss brought a bag of candy from Dollar General to her classroom and that two students were allowed to pick from it. One student grabbed a bag labeled “Stoney Patch Kids” thinking they were Sour Patch Kids, authorities said.
“Detectives confirmed during interviews that Weiss took the pack of edibles from the student and told him to pick something else from the box,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a statement. “The student went back to the box and happened to grab another pack of edibles.”
The student left with the gummies and asked a teacher at an after-school day-care program to help him open them. The day-care teacher contacted the child’s school and authorities said, the school’s assistant principal found another package of marijuana gummies in the prize box.
“No student ate any of the products,” Koon said.
Weiss is not still employed by the school district as of last week, according to a statement from school officials reported by WIS-TV.
“The safety of our students is our top priority,” said Dr. Greg Little, the school’s superintendent. “It is unacceptable for a staff member to potentially threaten the wellbeing of a child. We will continue to work to ensure all of our children have a safe environment to learn and grow. Rocky Creek Elementary has a sterling reputation which will not be tarnished by the actions of one person.”
South Carolina has not legalized marijuana at all.
