A high school English teacher has been charged a week after her students filmed her snorting what appeared to be cocaine in her classroom.
Samantha Cox of Lake Central in St. John, Indiana, was slapped with felony drug possession and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia charges after the teens caught her in the act last Wednesday.
The 24-year-old was arrested after students secretly filmed her through a locked classroom door cutting up the white, powdery substance on a binder at around 10.20am during a break in classes.
In the video, Cox is shown turning her back to the door, leaning over, and seemingly snorting the substance.
Aside from posting the video to social media, the teens showed the footage to staff members, who called police.
When St. John police arrived, they requested assistance from Dyer police and their detection dog, CBS reported.
The detection dog sniffed the leftover substance and paraphernalia stashed in her locked desk drawer.
During questioning, Cox told police she fell early that morning before she purchased the ‘dope cocaine’ for $160 from a dealer.
The teacher told authorities she had been using drugs since she first started college.
Cox was released from Lake County Jail the same day after posting $1,000 bond.
Samantha Cox (seen above in her mugshot) was charged with felony drug possession after telling police she purchased the ‘dope cocaine’ after falling ill early morning last Wednesday
Samantha Cox is pictured cutting up a white powdery substance on what appears to be a binder then standing up to lean over it as if to snort it as students film her through the window of her classroom at Lake Central High School in St. John, Indiana
It is not clear how long she had been working at the school when the video was filmed last week. Some students were outraged by the display.
‘She tried to hide herself. She wasn’t at her desk where we could see her.
‘She was all the way in the corner where she thought we can’t see her,’ John Rogers told CBS.
He is one of Cox’s students.
Others were more concerned about her well-being.
‘It is like a serious thing. A lot of people can get addicted to a lot of things, and something like this is, it’s very heartbreaking,’ student Michael Sanchez said.
The school said it was grateful for the students who brought the video to their attention.
It is not known when Cox is next due in court.
Cox was handcuffed and marched out of the school by police officers shortly after the video was taken
It is not clear how long Cox has been teaching at Lake Central High School, above, where the video was filmed