EX-TEACHER FACES CHARGES HE RAN HUGE DRUG RING

A former Cleveland teacher was charged Thursday with leading a nationwide
drug ring that authorities say peddled methamphetamine and Ecstasy across
Northeast Ohio.

Federal prosecutors said Michael Higgins, who taught at Woodland Hills
Elementary School, is accused of working with Marteeastaye Edwards to
obtain methamphetamine from suppliers in Phoenix who got their shipments
from Mexico.

The indictment charges 55 people with conspiracy in the case. The
indictment - which focused mainly on street sales in Summit, Cuyahoga and
Medina counties - makes it clear that Higgins and Edwards were leaders.
They are being held without bond, pending hearings in U.S. District Court.

Higgins, 40, of Strongsville, lost his job with Cleveland schools in 2003
after he was arrested by police and agents for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration involving Ecstasy in an unrelated case. He began working for
the district in 1996, school officials said. Higgins and Edwards are
accused of sending people across the country to pick up shipments.

But the plan turned deadly in February, when a police officer stopped a
speeding car driven by Christopher Perdew of North Canton on Interstate 80
in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Perdew had nearly 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine on
him, according to authorities.

During questioning, Perdew's passenger, Claudia Crippen, swallowed a
plastic bag filled with the drug. The bag burst, and Crippen, 50, of Akron,
died, the Associated Press reported. The two had been headed back to
Cleveland after picking up a shipment.

Days later, Higgins gave an associate 2,000 Ecstasy pills for 14 ounces of
methamphetamine, according to the charges.

The indictment says Higgins and Edwards paid as much as $2,000 an ounce for
meth. In many cases, they shipped the drug to Columbus, where street
dealers doled it out. As many as 15 people from Columbus were charged,
along with about 30 from Cleveland and Akron. The pair obtained Ecstasy
from dealers in Columbus, according to the indictment. Higgins pleaded
guilty to charges involving Ecstasy in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
on March 10, 2004, and was placed on probation for two years. While on
probation, he coordinated the ring's shipments to Cleveland, the charges say.

U.S. Attorney Gregory White said authorities used 12 wiretaps to
investigate the ring.

"It was a huge amount of drugs coming in," White said.