Springboro teacher’s son appeals conviction
The teenage son of Springboro teacher Amy Panzeca has appealed his juvenile court conviction in his drug case.
The teenage son of Springboro teacher Amy Panzeca has appealed his juvenile court conviction in his drug case to the 12th District Court.
In December, Panzeca’s son, now 16, was sentenced to 30 additional days in the local detention center as part of his sentence in Warren County Juvenile Court. He had pleaded no contest to charges of trafficking in drugs and possession of controlled substances.
He was also ordered to complete an in-patient treatment program, placed on probation, possibly until he turns 21, and fined $250.
The teen was accused of selling drugs to students at Springboro High School, including LSD allegedly purchased with bitcoin, an online currency that his mother reportedly bought for him with a credit or debit card.
Before the son’s no-contest plea, his lawyer, Kevin Hughes, urged Judge Joe Kirby to suppress statements made to police and agents of the Warren County Drug Task Force and to suppress a search warrant supporting a raid of the Panzeca home in Settler’s Walk.
The charge came after a raid last May of the Panzeca home in Springboro, culminating an investigation in which students were questioned after being stopped by police after leaving the home.
Amy Panzeca, 48, is pressing for the identity of confidential informants in her case and for the suppression of statements to police.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 28 in court in Lebanon.
She had tried to seek treatment in lieu of conviction, but a judge rejected that motion last year. She was placed on leave as a Springboro teacher during the investigation.
No dates have been set yet in her son’s appeal in the state appeals court in Middletown.