Texas Teacher Caught in Drug Ring

(Houston, Texas) A 31-year-old fifth-grade teacher at Robert Lee Frost Elementary School, Sharletha Woodard, has been convicted and sentenced for distribution of drugs.

Woodard was found to be part of an organized drug smuggling and distribution ring involving the Mexican Gulf Cartel, the former sheriff of Starr County TX and many others.

A small player in that distribution operation was Houston school teacher Sharletha Woodard whose boyfriend John Louis Jordan said he received drugs on consignment and distributed them.

Woodard, a fifth-grade teacher with a master's degree, was sentenced Thursday to nearly four years in prison for sometimes mailing packages of cocaine for Jordan, who received a 15-year sentence.

"I made a mistake," Woodard said. "This is a lifestyle that I really wouldn't take part in."

It's not clear how the felony conviction and prison term will affect Woodard's professional teaching career. It appears that the Houston Independent School District has been late in learning of the criminal prosecution.

The federal bust of the drug ring netted dozens of arrests with the biggest fish being the former Starr County Sheriff, Reymundo "Rey" Guerra, 52, who received more than five years in prison for drug trafficking.