North Carolina Teacher, Allegedly Used Students To Sell Drugs

Meredith Burris Pruitt, a 31-year-old teacher from Gastonia, N.C., was arrested last week for allegedly selling, and employing students to help sell, prescription drugs around the school, theGaston Gazette reports.


The former Forestview High English teacher was fired after an anonymous tip to school officials prompted an investigation into the drug ring.


The Charlotte Observer reports the investigation revealed Burris Pruitt supplied Clonazepam pills -- a drug used to treat anxiety, panic attacks, and seizures -- to a 15-year-old student with instructions to sell the pills to other students and return part of the money back to her.

Gaston County Police Captain W.S. Melton told the Gaston Gazette he's never seen anything like this happen in all his years of service. “I’ve been involved with school law enforcement since 1997 in one fashion or another. Since my involvement in school safety and school law enforcement in Gaston County, this is the first case I know of like this,” Melton told the paper. “I’m not familiar with anything like this ever happening. I’ve never seen it in this county.”


Despite the allegations, some students were sad to see the teacher leave. “I cannot believe Mrs. Pruitt is gone now,” one student tweeted, according to theObserver. Burris Pruitt has been charged with possession with the intent to sell a controlled substance, promoting drug sales by a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, WCNC TV reports.

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