Saturday, November 11, 2006

Former teacher arrested for drugs, second time

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas A former Valencia Elementary teacher who is under indictment on drug charges was arrested last week and charged with similar crimes.

Joanna Chavez, 38, of Peralta, was arrested in the early morning hours of Nov. 2 when Los Lunas police found her with what they believe was methamphetamine and a drug pipe. She was taken into custody and charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug parapheranalia and bringing contraband into a place of imprisonment.

Chavez was indicted earlier this year after sheriff's deputies found her in the school with what they charged as several bags of methamphetamine in her purse. According to the criminal complaint, Chavez, a former first-grade teacher, and a man were discovered at the school shortly after midnight last March during a routine patrol of the school.

Chavez told deputies she was grading papers. When the officers searched her classroom, they discovered a bag lying next to her desk, inside of which were several bags of a white substance that later tested positive for methamphetamine. The deputies also found several other items including a digital scale and lighters, in the purse.

Last week, Los Lunas Police Officer Heather Killingsworth reported that she located Chavez just after 2 a.m. walking out of a car wash bay located on Los Lentes Road. According to the police report, when the officer approached the woman, she (Chavez) told the officer that she was drying a vehicle and she had no idea what was going on.

While Killingsworth was interviewing Chavez, another officer searched the vehicle, which belonged to a man who Chavez was with, and reportedly found a clear plastic purse that contained a glass pipe.

Chavez told officers that the purse was her make-up bag, the report said.

After taking the woman into custody, officers searched Chavez's purse and found a second glass pipe, several small clear plastic baggies and one clear plastic bag which contained a white crystal-like substance which later tested positive as being methamphetamine.

According to the report, after the officer booked Chavez into the Valencia County Adult Detention Center, she (Killingsworth) was called back to the facility. The officer was advised that when jail employees searched Chavez, they found another clear plastic baggie filled with a white substance, which tested positive for methamphetamine.

The former teacher was released from jail later that day after posting a $12,500 cash or surety bond.

Chavez was terminated from her position with Los Lunas schools following her arrest last March. She was in court last week when District Judge John Pope approved a continuance of her trial so her attorney could question a witness in the first case.

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