School employee is charged

Bus driver accused of supplying fentanyl to special-needs students

A Riverside special-needs school bus driver accused of supplying fentanyl to students, causing at least one to suffer a medical emergency, was charged Friday with nearly a dozen felony offenses, and her husband was charged with possessing a gun and drugs.

Melissa Harloam Garrison, 46, and David Wayne Garrison, 58, were arrested Tuesday night following an investigation by the Riverside Police Department’s Narcotics Unit.

She is charged with three counts each of child endangerment and furnishing controlled substances to a minor, along with 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 is charged with possession of controlled substances while armed, illegal possession of a gun and being a convicted domestic abuser in possession of a firearm.

Melissa Garrison is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, where David Garrison is also jailed in lieu of $25,000 bail.

According to Officer Ryan Railsback, spokesman for the Riverside Police Department, officers were called to the Bright

Futures Academy in the 9000 block of County Farm Road on Tuesday afternoon to investigate reports of an employee selling fentanyl to students at the K-12 campus, which the California Department of Education says is geared to children with behavioral disorders.

Railsback said that while