posted March 01, 2007 12:58 AM            

There was no indication that John Acerra sold the drug to students at Nitschmann Middle School, where he was arrested Tuesday, said Dennis Mihalopoulos, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Police said they began investigating Acerra in early February after an informant told them the principal was using and distributing the drug.

Acerra, 50, who was in custody in lieu of bail, has an unlisted phone number, and it wasn't clear whether he had an attorney. No one answered the door Wednesday at his modest rowhouse along a narrow alley in Allentown.

A letter was sent to parents informing them of the arrest, and teachers had spoken with the 950 students at the school where Acerra had been principal since 2000, said Bethlehem schools Superintendent Joseph Lewis.

"I am saddened and troubled by these events," Lewis said. "I offer no explanation. There is none."

According to court documents, police last Thursday watched Acerra sell a small amount of meth to a customer in a store parking lot. They stopped the buyer, who told officers he had been to Acerra's home 10 to 15 times over the past three months, officials said.

Police then arranged for an informant to buy $200 worth of meth from Acerra on Saturday in the parking lot of an Allentown drug store, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, police set up another $200 deal with Acerra and the informant, who wore a listening device as he began conducting the transaction inside the principal's office, authorities said. Acerra did not have enough meth to sell to the informant, and he and the informant arranged to meet later that night to complete the buy, Mihalopoulos said Wednesday.

After the informant left the building, police entered Acerra's office and found him sitting at his desk with a bag of meth next to a glass tube with meth residue and burn marks on it, according to court documents. Also on the desk was the marked money the informant used to purchase the drug, the documents say.

Police said that under normal circumstances, they would have made other controlled buys and tried to work their way up the drug network, but that they had to act immediately because of Acerra's job.

"We felt that it was important to take him down as quickly as possible," Martin said.

posted March 12, 2007 01:15 AM              

Our town also has a history of similiar events. Only the highschool principle has yet to be arrested.

Makes you question the hiring process/qualifications of school officials!

Why is drug testing not a natural part of the hiring and continued employment process?

Why for this matter is psychiatric evaluation not a part of the norm for those we entrust our children too?

Hmm?

jwhop thank you for posting this article!
maybe there are many more schools out there with this problem only people don't even think to question it or examine it as we are conditioned to believe that educators are GOOD WHOLESOME folk who dedicate their lives to nurturing our children.

THE REALITY IS:
IT IS A JOB, like your job, my job everyones job. People get burnt out, people have bad habits, some people have abusive natures as well as addictions.

Sad, but true...