Photo: Vanderburgh County Jail
An Indiana teacher has been fired after students found her meth-filled scrunchie during a family fun night. Police said that Sarah Duncan, who formally taught eighth grade at Helfrich Park STEM Academy, took photos with students inside a photo booth during the event on September 12.
While students were cleaning up at the end of the night, they found a blue scrunchie on the floor of the photo booth. They told police it felt heavier than a regular scrunchie and opened its zipper pouch.
Inside, they found a cut straw and a glass vial filled with a white, powdery substance. The students handed it over to a teacher, who instructed them to throw out the vial and the straw. The teacher confiscated the scrunchie and put it in her classroom before contacting the principal and assistant principal.
Police conducted a field test on the scrunchie, which came back positive for methamphetamine. Authorities said that surveillance footage showed Duncan wearing the scrunchie earlier in the night.
A few days later, Duncan was escorted to a drug clinic by Evansville Police Chief Tim Alford and the school's deputy chief of staff. After two failed attempts at providing an acceptable urine sample, officers saw a collection container fall out of her shorts.
Duncan was taken into custody and charged with one count of criminal possession and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
She was fired from her job the day after her arrest.