Teacher Smackdown

Poor New Orleans is getting poorer. Sixth grade teacher Gabriel C. Hood, 28, was arrested on charges that he stole money from a student community service group, the Tchefuncte Middle School Builder’s Club. The club is cosponsored by the Kiwanis and gets middle school students to participate in community service projects to help other kids, seniors, the disabled, and the poor.

Hood is charged with taking over $1,100 from student dues and fundraisers and buying a $450 camera with the club’s money. It is tempting to call him Robin Hood, but that legendary figure gave to the poor and did not steal from them. Maybe we should call him “Robbing the ‘hood” instead.

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Here at Teacher Smackdown, I like finding stories about teachers stealing. It certainly beats teachers having affairs with their teenage students, or feeling up kindergarteners…sigh.

In Cumberland, Maryland, Carmen Belen Harden, 35, was charged with embezzlement and theft. She was arrested at her home on a warrant and posted a $20,000 bond later that day.

The investigation began in June when the county board of education notified the Cumberland Police Department that a teacher was embezzling funds.

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In Cortland New York, Allendale Columbia elementary school teacher Michael Bohn, 41, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree grand larceny, and endangering the welfare of a child. Two counts of first-degree robbery for robbing a bank with a loaded gun last February were dropped in exchange for his plea.

Bohn will be serving between five and 12 1/2 years in state prison for using a .44-magnum handgun to rob $16,000 in cash from a bank. A witness outside the bank called 911 and police caught him as he left the bank.

His arrest shocked parents since he received an award for teaching excellence back in 2002. Bohn taught history and math to sixth graders and geography to seventh graders.

Sounds like he should have been teaching, thou shall not steal, too. Or does this have to do with teachers being paid so little?

Michael Bohn, bank robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, grand larceny, endangering the welfare of a child, Allendale Columbia

Here’s a scam. You’re a principal and the school budget gives you money for student pictures. Needing a little extra pocket change, you ask parents to send in money for pictures and then steal the cash.

Luckily, this scammer got caught.

Seems that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is investigating Wilson Elementary School principal Michael Hailey. Not only is he accused of stealing picture money, but he was indicted on stealing $14,298 from students for field trips that were already paid for by the district.

His assistant, Patricia Johnson, is also charged in the crime as are Juanita Worthy, a principal at Wiggins Elementary School, and her daughter Keah Worthy, a former teacher at Wilson. Hailey and Johnson are also accused of trying to take $25,000 worth of pay vouchers for meetings that were never held.

Wow a principals-teachers crime ring operating in two different schools. What next, a PTO pot dealing ring?

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principals stealing money, teachers stealing money, stealing from kids

How nice to find a story where a teacher isn’t having sex with his or her students or giving them drugs. Instead he’s “only” stealing money from them.

In Newport, Tenn. Reece Thornton, 55, a GED teacher at Cocke County High School was caught stealing money during a basketball game. Acting on a tip, the school’s resource officer set up the video camera above the ticket sale area. The video clearly shows Thornton stuffing his pockets with money.

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