A veteran teacher from Aiken Elementary School has been arrested for drug trafficking and suspended from her job after a routine traffic stop turned up 2 pounds of meth, authorities said.
Sarah McKinnon, 43, blamed her boyfriend for the drugs, saying he had “set her up,” according to a sheriff’s report.
McKinnon lives in North Augusta, but the traffic stop took place at 4 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Laurens Street and Richland Avenue in downtown Aiken. She didn’t stop completely for two stop signs and made an illegal turn when Sgt. J. Frantz pulled her over, a sheriff’s report says.
An K-9 officer was called to the scene, and the four-legged officer alerted to the driver side, leading the deputy to find a gallon-size plastic bag filled with 2.23 pounds of a crystal-like substance.
“That was wrapped in a black plastic bag and that was wrapped in a clear plastic bag in a cardboard box for an iron,” the report says. “Sarah had the receipt for the iron in her purse … along with a Trac phone.”
The woman told officers she had rented the car to drive to North Carolina. She said her boyfriend Robert set her up with the drugs.
McKinnon said she didn’t have anything illegal on her, but the sergeant found “two plastic bags with crystal like substance in her right front pocket of her vest with a plastic bag of green leafy substance.” She also had a small plastic bag with suspected meth in a black backpack with school books and a computer she said was hers for school. There were also two bags of meth in the driver door.
She was booked for drug trafficking and later released. Schools spokesman Mike Rosier said none of the alleged offenses were directly related to her employment with the school district.
“The individual has been a teacher for twenty-one years, serving most recently at Aiken Elementary School,” said Rosier, the Communications Director for Aiken County Public School District “As is standard protocol, the employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
Contacted on Thursday, McKinnon said she had been advised by her attorney not to make any statements.
