Kindergarten teacher sentenced for dealing drugs
KINGMAN, Ariz. — A former schoolteacher who left her kindergarten classroom in Lake Havasu City during a break to sell drugs to an undercover officer was given an 18-month prison term Friday.
It was the lightest punishment possible under terms of a plea agreement convicting Stephanie Courson, 42, of a single count of solicitation of sale of narcotic drugs.
Defense attorney Randall Craig said torment from a mean-spirited ex-husband, financial desperation and depression, stress and insomnia afflictions rendered Courson unable to make good decisions and vulnerable to temptation to deal drugs for money.
Prosecutor Megan McCoy countered that she deserved prison for feeding Mohave County’s drug addiction problem for profit.
Lake Havasu City police Sgt. Troy Stirling said Courson, on three occasions, sold the undercover officer a total of 225 morphine pills, 170 Xanax pills, 35 Vicodin pills and 200 pills of Cyclobenzaprine.
He said no other employees or students at the school that formerly employed Courson were involved in the illegal activity.
