Former Warren Harding teacher charged again with drug-possession

Staff report

WARREN

A former Warren G. Harding High School home-economics teacher, who was placed on a paid home assignment apart from students a year ago because of Summit County drug charges, has been indicted for drug offenses alleged to have occurred in December in Trumbull County.

Tracy A. Gogel, 47, of Cuyahoga Falls, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to two counts of deception to obtain a dangerous drug. She was released from the county jail after posting $5,000 bond.

The charges accuse her of using deception to acquire a prescription or dangerous drug or possess an uncompleted preprinted prescription blank used for writing prescriptions, despite already having been convicted of a drug-abuse offense.

If convicted of the Trumbull County charges, she could get up to three years in prison.

Gogel was placed on a home assignment from the Warren school district in late March 2015 after she was charged in Cuyahoga Falls with a felony drug-possession charge.

An attempt to reach Steve Chiaro, Warren schools superintendent, to learn whether she still is employed by the district was unsuccessful Thursday.

Chiaro said last spring that her home assignment meant she performed specific assignments for the school district. She worked as a home-economics teacher at Warren G. Harding High School from August 2009 through March 2015, Chiaro said at the time.

She was convicted in Summit County Common Pleas Court on March 28, 2015, of drug possession and was sentenced to two years’ probation, and her driver’s license was suspended for six months.

The court allowed her Oct. 10 to drive from home to her job, according to court records.

She also was charged again this week in Cuyahoga Falls on an additional drug-possession charge and traffic citations. Those charges are pending, according to online records of Stow Municipal Court in Portage County.