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Campbell High School QB faces drug charges
CAMPBELL
After police conducted their semiannual search of lockers and vehicles at Campbell Memorial High School last Thursday, they arrested a 17-year-old student on charges of trafficking drugs on school property and possessing drug paraphernalia.
Police arrested Stephan Elash, quarterback of the Campbell High football team, after a police dog smelled suspected drugs in the car.
After being questioned, Elash admitted possessing marijuana. According to a police report, he gave officers an iPhone box with five packages of marijuana that weighed 4.56 grams.
Superintendent Matt Bowen said the district immediately began an investigation.
“The district will continue to work cooperatively with our local police to ensure a drug-free learning environment,” Bowen said.
Bowen did not want to comment directly about Elash. The school district eventually issued a vague statement in response to The Vindicator’s questions about the case.
According to the police report, Brad Yeager, assistant high school principal, conducted an “emergency removal” of Elash from the school, Elash’s parents were notified and his vehicle was towed.
Ed Rozum, head coach of the Campbell football team, said the school is having a hearing on the case today at the Campbell Board of Education office. Elash did not play in the team’s football game last week nor will he play in this week’s game. Rozum said he did not want to comment further.
Campbell (1-8) is scheduled to complete its regular season Friday against visiting Newton Falls at John Knapick Field.
Frank Pinciaro, school district athletic director, did not return messages left Wednesday at his office and on his cellphone.
According to the high school handbook on student conduct, students who bring guns, knives, drugs or weapons to school will have those items confiscated and not returned. The school has a 10-day suspension for first offenders and expulsion for second offenders.
The handbook also states that students possessing drugs have a 10-day suspension on the first offense, but this offense can be reduced to five days if the student and parent agree to an assessment from a Board of Education-approved agency.
The second offense for possessing drugs is expulsion, but it can be reduced to a 10-day suspension.
Police Chief Drew Rauzan said police conduct random drug searches of the school property about once a month. He said it is uncommon to discover illegal substances during these searches.
“We will be continuing our efforts based on this last arrest because we want to be clear to anyone engaged in this activity — if you bring drugs into our schools or even our city, in general, you will be arrested. You will go to jail,” Rauzan said.
He said he wants to search the schools more often now to deter students who might bring illegal substances. Rauzan is an assistant football coach on the high school team, and he added that the drug arrest at the high school was “troubling” to him.
“Nobody likes to see a young person make a poor choice,” he said.