TEACHER, SPOUSE GET PROBATION IN MARIJUANA CASE

A high school teacher and her husband have pleaded no contest to one
count of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and were
sentenced to one year of probation.

Judge Steven Selph withheld adjudication for Miriam and Ransford
Boateng.

Miriam Boateng, 43, has been suspended without pay since shortly
after the arrest. She was teaching high school seniors at Sabal Palm
School within the Polk County Juvenile Correctional Facility in Polk
City.

Sabal Palm is a public school for troubled teens.

Her husband, 52, has a doctorate in electrical engineering from Yale
University.

The Lakeland couple were arrested Nov. 7 by Polk County sheriff's
deputies and charged with one felony count of cultivation of
cannabis, one felony count of maintaining a dwelling for drug use,
and one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The
State Attorney's Office dropped the felony charges.

Deputies found 18 cannabis plants and a hydroponic watering system,
along with loose marijuana, in their home, according to the Polk
County Sheriff's Office.