SC teaching assistant charged with giving elementary student prescription pill
A Midlands teaching assistant is under arrest after a parent says she put a prescription pill in an elementary school student’s mouth and gave him some juice to drink it down.
Anna Valeria Howard, 35, was arrested Friday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child.
Richland County sheriff’s deputies were called back in March after a parent of a student at Windsor Elementary School reported her 6-year-old was given an unknown pill by a teacher.
The student said his teacher had pulled him into a private area, put a pill in his mouth and gave him juice to drink it. The teacher didn’t tell him what the pill was for, the 6-year-old said.
The child’s mother told deputies her son is not taking any medication. When interviewed by deputies, Howard denied giving the child a pill.
However, the 6-year-old later tested positive for amphetamines, and investigators discovered Howard had an amphetamine prescription.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department cited reductions in courthouse operations during the coronavirus pandemic as delaying an arrest in the case, as well as Howard’s willingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Richland School District Two and Windsor Elementary School staff are cooperating fully with the investigation, the sheriff’s department said.
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