A Clarendon High School student is out on bond this week facing drug-related charges after a canine unit alerted on his vehicle during a random search last week.
Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Mason Lowrie, age 17, was charged with a felony possession of a controlled substance and with misdemeanor offenses of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Blackburn said his office was contacted by the school last Thursday, November 3, after a drug dog alerted on Lowrie’s vehicle in the school parking lot and after it had been searched by the company providing the canine service.
Lowrie was arraigned Friday and released on bonds totaling $6,500, the sheriff said.
CHS Principal Larry Jeffers would not comment on this case specifically, but he did say the school has contracted with Interquest for about 10 years.
Jeffers said the company makes about nine unscheduled visits to the school each year and can detect illicit drugs as well as prescription drugs, alcohol, and gunpowder residue. He said when a dog alerts on a vehicle, the school is notified and then the owner is located to get permission to search the vehicle. If a search turns up something ordinary – such as aspirin or a medication prescribed for that student, then there is no problem.
If a search turns up possession of drugs, Jeffers said policy is for the student to be automatically placed in the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (AEP). A felony case can result in automatic expulsion to AEP, Jeffers said.
CHS has only had about three AEP placements in the last ten years as a result of a canine search, the principal said. Law enforcement is called in if a student is found to possess drugs on the school grounds.
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