Middle School Teacher Arrested On Drug Charges: Sheriff

LAKELAND, FL — A Kathleen Middle School teacher was arrested on drug charges for allegedly having methamphetamine on the passenger seat of a car she was in, a police news release said.

Tuesday morning, Robin Ramos, 40, a sixth grade math teacher, was seen asleep in a silver Nissan Altima by a deputy in the parking lot of Race Trac, 6650 U.S. Highway 98 N, investigators said. When the deputy checked on her just before 1 a.m., she said that she was waiting for someone to driver her home since she didn't have a driver's license, according to detectives.

Authorities said the car keys couldn't be found. What deputies said they did find is a clear liquid inside a syringe along with a metal spoon encrusted with a white crystal-like substance. Field test results showed that substances were methamphetamine, police said.

The suspect told the deputy that she occasionally does meth, but she denied taking any Tuesday, investigators said.

"The parents of this woman's students must be shocked and angry. It shocks and angers me, and I don't have any children in her class," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "We also arrested her last May for DUI, so this makes the second school employee we've arrested in as many weeks who has a prior criminal history. That is completely unacceptable."

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Ramos faces the following charges:

• Possession of methamphetamine
• Possession of drug paraphernalia