SOUTH MONTGOMERY COUNTY- The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigation Unit confirmed today that a teacher employed by Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District was one of four people arrested January 17 on felony and misdemeanor drug charges, according to Lt. Philip Cash.
Angela Newport Rowland, 33, is a physical education teacher at De Zavala Elementary School in Baytown. She and her husband, 43-year-old John Douglas Rowland, of Baytown were each charged with two counts of third-degree felony possession of a controlled substance (cocaine and ecstasy) and misdemeanor B possession of marijuana, as were their companions, Catherine Elizabeth Labure, 45, of Highlands and 40-year-old Matthew Edward Rowland of Baytown.
According to Public Data, none of the four suspects have a criminal history. All have since been released on bond.
Cash said the group was traveling north on I-45 near SH 242 in a motor home around 8:15 p.m. when SIU patrol deputies stopped the vehicle because of an expired registration sticker and subsequently noticed the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle. The deputies requested and were granted consent to search and discovered the illegal substances.
Kathy Clausen, GCCISD Director of Public Information, released a statement Thursday afternoon saying Rowland, a district employee of six years, was “placed on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation into her arrest.”
“(Rowland) was placed on leave on Tuesday morning, after she informed her principal of the arrest,” the statement read. “This is a personnel matter that the District is handling in accordance with School Board Policy.”
Rowland was the third teacher arrested on drug-related charges in Montgomery County in less than four months.
Elena Aranda Ducoing, a Greenleaf Elementary first-grade teacher in Splendora ISD was arrested at the school on October 8, 2008 after she was indicted Sept. 30, 2008 on felony marijuana and cocaine possession charges. The arrest came almost a week after Montgomery ISD kindergarten teacher Emiley Weaks was jailed on Oct. 2, when police found methamphetamine in her car during a traffic stop.
