School Worker Indicted for Drugs, Weapons

(Norfolk, Virginia) In December 2009, a guidance counselor secretary at Lafayette-Winona Middle School, Sheena Latoya Ingram, was arrested and charged with possession of heroin and marijuana with the intent to distribute, along with two weapons charges.

Earlier this month, Ingram was indicted on four felony charges.

Astonishingly, the school system was unaware of both Ingram's arrest in December and her indictments in March. Therefore, she continued to work at Lafayette-Winona Middle School until a media source contacted school administrators last Friday.

School officials say after our phone call, they immediately went to Lafayette-Winona Middle School, confronted the guidance secretary and put her on administrative leave pending the outcome of her trial.

"It was really through that contact that we became aware that we had an employee at one of the middle schools who had been arrested," said school spokesman Mike Spencer. "Once we got that information, as policy would dictate, we placed that individual on leave."

It is school policy that the employees are responsible for informing the school if they are arrested on criminal charges.

Heh. So school officials rely on the honor system. It's sort of a "Tell us when we have to fire you" policy. Implementation is obviously hit-and-miss.