Another school employee was busted recently
In the second such incident in as many weeks, a school employee is being accused of giving drugs to at least two children. Melissa Harloam-Garrison, 46, an employee at a special needs school in Riverside was arrested recently on suspicion of giving fentanyl to students at the Bright Futures Academy, a private K-12 school.
According to a news report, “authorities were responding to a report regarding an ‘incorrigible juvenile’ at the school at about 4:30 p.m. when staff alerted them about an employee possibly giving fentanyl to students.”
While on campus, police also learned about a student at the school who overdosed the previous week at their home. The student was revived and recovered.
“A school investigation revealed that a staffer who serves as a bus driver and campus security was suspected of giving Fentanyl to the student who overdosed as well as others while on campus,” according to the news report.
They also discovered that Harloam-Garrison allegedly recruited two students to help peddle the drug over an unspecified amount of time. She also allegedly supplied undisclosed quantities of the synthetic opioid to the children. It’s not clear how many children she gave the drug to.
Harloam-Garrison was charged with three counts each of child endangerment and furnishing controlled substances to a minor, dealing in controlled substances, possession of controlled substances while armed, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, being a felon in possession of ammunition and a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation.
Her husband, David Wayne Garrison, 58, was also arrested following an investigation by the Riverside Police Department’s Narcotics Unit. He was charged with possession of controlled substances while armed, illegal possession of a gun and being a convicted domestic abuser in possession of a firearm. The two lived in a cottage on campus, the news report said. Harloam-Garrison is the daughter of the school’s chief operating officer.
She’s not the only one accused of giving drugs to students. She joins 30-year-old physical education teacher and coach Anthony Fullman, who was recently arrested after allegedly providing Adderall to a few players on his team.
It’s unconscionable to imagine that a child sent to school to learn might be exposed to a dangerous drug like fentanyl. We can only imagine why this woman would do such a despicable thing, knowing how dangerous the drug is. The child who survived the overdose is very fortunate. Fentanyl is such a strong opioid that in order to reverse an overdose, the person who took it must receive Narcan (naloxone) within minutes of taking it, in order to survive.
What’s more alarming about this story is that a domestic abuser and convicted felon were not only living on campus, but were working for the school. How did they get hired in the first place and why were they allowed to live on campus? Perhaps the fact that Harloam-Garrison’s father is the COO, has something to do with it?
Regardless, it’s bad enough that children face peer pressure while in school; they certainly don’t need adults who are supposed to educate and care for them to pump them with drugs.