Oct 31 2007
Pennsylvania Police Find Middle School Principal Naked, Watching Gay Porn In Office
This happened close to where I grew up.
Police intended to arrest Nitschmann Middle School Principal John Acerra for allegedly selling crystal methamphetamine. When they discovered him naked in his office, they found a glass drug pipe and $200 in marked money on the desk. A confidential informant wearing a wire arranged to buy meth from Acerra just minutes before, about 6 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.
This was back in March. Last week he was sentenced to 2-4 years in state prison.
It's easy to fire up the 'ol self-righteous indignation at this guy. A middle school principal earning a $80,000+ a year dealing and using meth and watching gay porn in his office, for chrissake!
From the moment he was arrested, he did everything right. It was lucky he finally got caught, and he knew it. When he was arraigned, he declined bail, saying, "No bail. If I hadn't been arrested tonight, I'd have ended up on a morgue slab. I'm staying in here." At his hearing he took full responsibility for his actions and apologized to the people he let down. He's been attending counseling sessions for drug and alcohol abuse. I read elsewhere that he's helping other inmates with their education too.
About the gay porn watching part: meth cranks your libido into ultra-super-overdrive and messes with your ability to regulate your own behavior. The bizarre circumstances of his arrest say more about what the drug does to people than about who he is as a person. Somehow this otherwise successful and intelligent man picked the wrong drug to get addicted to. I wonder how he first got involved with it.
The scary thought is this drug is being used by more and more Americans every year, and its effects are far more powerful than crack or cocaine. It accounts for nearly 90% of drug cases in the midwest, and meth arrests are up 300% nationwide since 1996.
When you overcome something that has power over you, be it something as simple as fear or as strong as a drug addiction, when you defeat it, you own that power. I bet that once get gets out of jail, he'll do something with his life that has an incredible impact on the people he helps.
