It's a good thing, ultimately," she said of her arrest. "I got my life back."
At a routine traffic stop, they found heroin and a syringe in her purse.
"She was coming to school the whole time and she was doing drugs," a student said. "So, it's like, 'You're a liar.'"
May 28, 2008 - Mary Steck, 51, a physics teacher at Perry Traditional Acad
emy, was arrested a mile away from the school on charges of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.
According to the criminal complaint, police were in the neighborhood because citizens had reported seeing an increase in drug sales. Shortly after they arrived, narcotics detectives said they witnessed a man Steck was with purchasing the heroin.Steck was suspended.
Police said the man got out of the vehicle, purchased the drugs and got back inside. When police pulled Steck over, they said they found heroin and a syringe in her purse.
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Perry Traditional Academy is one of ten public high schools in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Source: Wikipedia The school rates a 2 (with 1 being the lowest) at GreatSchools.net for their test scores.
The district pays $12,559 a year per pupil in the Pittsburgh School District. In May, the school got a rave review for their production of "Urinetown."
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SENTENCED July 10 - A judge sentenced Steck to six months of probation, without a verdict. The drug charges could be dropped if Ms. Steck, who has no prior criminal record and stays out of trouble.
Mary Steck faces losing her job after police caught her buying heroin in May. But she's grateful they caught her. After five years of using drugs, Ms. Steck, 51, said she is now clean.
"I thank the cops for helping me get my life back," the North Side woman said yesterday as she waited for a hearing to begin in City Court. "I have a disease."
She expects to lose her teaching license. But she hopes to get back into the profession some day, after serving her sentence and clearing her record.
TT - This is a woman we can respect. We wish her well with her life.
