Lauren Russell: Lucas Heights school teacher pleads guilty to giving cannabis to students
A Lucas Heights school teacher allegedly caught on video smoking a bong with students has admitted to supplying drugs.
St George Shire Standard
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A Sydney teacher allegedly captured on video smoking a bong with students has admitted to supplying drugs.
Lauren Russell, 42, was charged with one count of drug supply as police allege the high school physics teacher supplied cannabis to her students at Lucas Heights Community School in the Sutherland Shire.
Documents tendered to the court revealed police alleged Russell supplied illegal drugs between 3pm and 6pm on December 15 last year.
Russell previously told the court she was not guilty and planned to defend the allegations at a hearing in June.
However on Wednesday, she fronted Sutherland Local Court, supported by her partner, to change her plea to guilty.
The mother-of-three was arrested at her home in Beverly Hills, in Sydney’s southwest, in Februaryand charged amid allegations she handed cannabis to students at Lucas Heights Community School.
Several days after Russell’s arrest, footage emerged of Russell allegedly taking a hit from a bong crafted from a Gatorade bottle and exhaling smoke as she perches on a milk crate surrounded by students near Menai Skate Park.
The video allegedly shows Russell smoking an unknown substance from the makeshift bong constructed from the Gatorade bottle and a piece of hose.
In court on Wednesday, her lawyer took a hearing date of July 13 where he will seek to deal with his client's charge under Section 14 of the Mental Health Act, which allows a magistrate to dismiss a charge and discharge the defendant into the care of a responsible person, to seek treatment or rehabilitation, or without conditions.
If the application is unsuccessful Russell could be dealt with and sentenced according to criminal law.
The exact details of the allegations were not heard in court and are expected to be aired during the hearing in July.
The American-born teacher, who lives with her family in Beverly Hills, taught at the school for seven years.
A school newsletter from Lucas Heights Community School’s website indicates Russell began working at the school in 2014 after transferring from Canley Vale High School in Sydney’s southwest.
Russell originally hails from Maryland in the United States and was part of a fraternity at Drexel University in Philadelphia where she studied biology.
A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education previously said Ms Russell was immediately removed from the school as soon as the allegations were known.
She has been banned from the school grounds and contacting students.
“They will not be allowed on school grounds and have been instructed not to contact students,” the spokesman said.
“We are deeply concerned by the allegations. We have high expectations of our employees.”
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