Surrey teacher charged with selling drugs near Vancouver elementary school
A Surrey teacher has been charged with drug trafficking.
Cpl. Sherrdean Turley, of the Richmond RCMP, said Eugenio Alfonso Bahamonde, 41, was arrested on Nov. 7 after allegedly doing a "hand-to-hand" drug deal near an elementary school in Vancouver.
He has been charged with trafficking and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and is expected to appear in court on Jan. 16.
Meantime, Surrey School District spokesman Doug Strachan said Bahamonde has been suspended from work.
"He's suspended in accordance with the School Act," Strachan said.
Strachan said Bahamonde works as a teacher on call and he wasn't sure where his last posting was. Asked if Bahamonde has been suspended with pay, Strachan noted that TOC's are paid for when they work and aren't full-time employees.
"In any event, I believe the Privacy Act would not allow me to disclose that detail if he was salaried," Strachan said.
Turley said Richmond RCMP's property crime unit and quick response team were conducting an investigation in Vancouver when plainclothes officers saw the alleged drug deal.
"Plainclothes officers watched as the driver of the vehicle appeared to make a drug transaction with a pedestrian," she said. "The driver was also seen smoking what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette."
Turley said she had no information on the pedestrian's age. She said the police pulled the vehicle over in a neighbourhood parking lot after it drove away, arrested the driver and issued a 24-hour driving prohibition.
"A search incidental to arrest revealed marijuana and evidence of drug trafficking," Turley said.