Teachers in trouble: 5 times area teachers lost jobs amid allegations

This week’s arrest of a Springboro elementary school teacher is the latest involving area teachers accused of illegal actions.

Amy Lea Panzeca, 48, was arrested in Springboro Monday evening on charges of permitting drug abuse and endangering children.

RELATED: Springboro teacher, her teen son facing drug charges

Aside from the Five Points Elementary School teacher, other cases include:

- A former Dayton Public Schools coach and teacher's aide. Donte D. Murphy was indicted in July 2016 for sexual battery against a student.

His case is still active in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

The 29-year-old Englewood resident is charged with three counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, court records show. County Prosecutor’s spokesman Greg Flannagan has said there was one victim in the case, a female student who had already turned 18.

Dayton police records show a sexual assault complaint was filed May 5, 2016 at Ponitz Career Technology Center by an 18-year-old female student, citing incidents that occurred in February and on May 1 of that year.

Murphy served as head boys track coach at Ponitz from 2012 until March 2016. He was hired as a classroom aide in August 2014, five months after his arrest on a solicitation charge stemming from an incident on Wayne Avenue in Dayton.

-Tipp City athletic director. Tipp City schools former Athletic Director Matt Shomper stepped down in April 2016 after being put on paid administrative leave in February.

RELATED: Longtime AD resigns in Tipp City

Search warrants were executed in February at his Tippecanoe High School office, his home and his vehicle. The search was part of an investigation involving Tipp City police, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the State Auditor’s Office and the Ohio Ethics Commission.

No charges have been filed and the case remains under investigation. The investigation began in September 2015, when Superintendent Gretta Kumpf reported to Tipp City police irregularities found by state auditors in the athletic department.

Shomper signed a separation agreement. He had been the athletic director since 2006.

-A Miamisburg Middle School teacher. Prosecutors are considering charges involving the female teacher who resigned in late May shortly after being put on paid administrative leave.

Miami Twp. police began investigating after a report of “sexual battery” involving the nine-year teaching veteran. The district’s investigation, Superintendent David Vail said at the time, “did not allege any sexual conduct.”

This week police said they sent the case to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

-A former Huber Heights teacher. Steve Jutras was 47 when he was sentenced in November 2016 to prison for attempting to run down a woman in the parking lot of the Walmart in Butler Twp.

RELATED: Teacher charged with sex crime involving student

He was given three years on a felonious assault charge to run concurrent with a previous drug conviction

He was sentenced to two years for the drug conviction, and is expected to get credit for five-and-a-half months he spent in jail.

Testimony from the victim had gone on for two hours before Jutras changed his plea. He attempted to run down the woman, who he knew, in the parking lot of Walmart, 3465 York Commons Blvd., on Nov. 5, 2015, according to police.

RELATED: Teacher put on paid leave before resigning amid sexual misconduct allegation

Jutras was once named Teacher of the Year and a role model who was at the top of his profession and respected by his students. However, he let his guard down and let drugs into his life, his attorney Jose Lopez said after the sentencing.

-A Butler County teacher convicted in June. Former Fairfield high school teacher Tyler Conrad was found guilty on charges of sexual imposition and contributing to delinquency of a minor.

The 26-year-old was placed on administrative leave Oct. 13, 2016 before being indicted in November on sexual battery as well as the charges for which he was eventually convicted.

The investigation began when Fairfield police were contacted by Butler County Children Services about possible illegal activity between a Fairfield High School teacher and student. Police opened an investigation, advised school administrators of the allegations, and evidence was presented to a grand jury for consideration, according to police.

The alleged activity happened between Conrad and a 16-year-old female student between Aug. 16 and Oct. 9, according to the indictment.

Conrad was hired by Fairfield schools on Aug. 6, 2015.

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