An Horry County reading and language arts teacher was arrested on a drug possession charge after officials said a school iPad was used to send messages about buying illegal drugs.
Erin L. Condon, age 23, was charged on Feb. 23 with possession of controlled substance schedule I to V – first offense, according to J. Reuben Long Detention Center data.
The investigation stretched back to Dec. 9 when iPads from Whittemore Park Middle School vanished, Conway Police said in a report.
At one point in the investigation about the missing iPads, police were preparing to serve an arrest warrant on Condon, but were told that the Horry County Schools lawyers were working on a deal with Condon’s attorney, police said.
Police were instructed not to serve the arrest warrant, according to the report.
“I was preparing an arrest warrant when I was informed (Condon’s) lawyer was in working out an agreement with the Board of Education lawyers about the missing iPads and I was instructed not to serve the arrest warrant,” Conway Police said, but did not indicate who exactly told them.
Meanwhile, 2 other Conway Police Officers were sent to Whittemore Park school on Feb. 23 about the text messages on the iPads.
When police arrived, Condon was already in an office with another officer about the missing iPads. Condon agreed to waive her rights to remain silent and agreed to talk with Conway police.
The missing iPads had been signed out with Condon’s PIN, police said in a report.
School officials said that on Condon’s current iPad, which was school property, there were “messages that were (talking) about buying drugs,” the police report said.
Also, a media center teacher noticed messages on an iPad “about making a deal to buy illegal drugs,” police said in a second report.
Condon said she didn’t try to buy or sell drugs, police said. She also denied trading the missing iPads for drugs.
However, Condon explained the messages on the iPad saying “that people know that she knows people with drugs,” the report said.
Condon then pulled out two pill bottles and said that those were the drugs she takes, police said.
Police said that in an Alprazolam pill bottle there were 3 different types of pills.
Condon told police they were Xanax and Adderall, the report said.
Condon also said she had a prescription for Adderall, but it was not with her.
When police examined the pills in each bottle they said that there were 11 pills of Amphetamine and Dextroamphetamine.
At that point, Condon was arrested and held overnight at J. Reuben Long Detention Center before being released on $2500 bond.
Condon appears to have never been charged with stealing iPads, although one police report indicated that she did not turn in all the iPads signed out to her — and that police were preparing an arrest warrant.
On a teacher social media website, Condon said she was originally from New Jersey, but moved in 2009 to attend CCU, where she graduated with a degree in Special Education. She said she was currently working towards a Masters in Education in Instructional Technology at Coastal Carolina University.
Condon, who had been at Whittemore Park since Sept. 2014, resigned Feb 24, which is the day she got out of jail, said Teal Britton of Horry County Schools.
Before her stint at Whittemore Park, she was a special ed teacher at Conway High School for a semester, Britton said.
Before that, in the Fall of 2013, she was a substitute teacher, according to Britton.
