Teacher from Canton charged with DUI
A drug possession charge was withdrawn Wednesday against a schoolteacher from Canton Township who, state police allege, was carrying a small amount of psychedelic mushrooms when she was charged in July with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Washington County Assistant District Attorney Josh Carroll said the charge was withdrawn against Rebekah Anne Brooks, 32, of 185 Marra Ave., because the state police laboratory results had yet to be completed on the suspected drug.
Brooks, who is a reading teacher in Keystone Oaks School District, also Wednesday waived her right to a preliminary hearing on the DUI charge at the office of District Judge David Mark, sending the case to Washington County Court.
Carroll said police have the option to refile the drug possession charge in the case after the lab results on the suspected mushrooms are completed.
Police said a bag of mushrooms classified as a drug was found in Brooks’ purse after she was pulled over about 2:30 a.m. July 9 for turning her car in front of a state police cruiser on Jessop Place and then traveling in the middle of the road approaching Weirich Avenue, the arrest affidavit states. Police pulled her over at West Wylie and Pennsylvania avenues.
Police said tests showed she had a blood-alcohol content of 0.139 percent, which is higher than Pennsylvania’s 0.08 percent threshold.
Keystone Oaks Superintendent William P. Stropkaj confirmed last week Brooks is a teacher in the district, which accepts students from Castle Shannon, Dormont and Green Tree.
Stropkaj declined to discuss Brooks’ employment status, saying it’s pending an investigation.