SCHOOL AIDE ASKED TEENS TO JOIN DRUG RING, POLICE ALLEGE

Newport Harbor High worker sold marijuana at least once on campus,
investigators say. District officials, surprised and disappointed,
order the 22-year-old arrestee to stay away.

A Newport Beach teacher's aide who police say tried to recruit
teenagers into a drug-dealing ring targeting students has been
arrested on narcotics charges, authorities said Wednesday.

Carl Alfred Johnson, 22, a part-time aide at Newport Harbor High
School, is suspected of selling marijuana to students on more than a
dozen occasions, mostly at parks but at least once on a high school
campus, said Sgt. Mike McDermott, spokesman for the Newport Beach
Police Department.

Johnson was arrested Tuesday while allegedly selling marijuana to a
15-year-old boy at Bonita Creek Park. Police said they found four
grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms and a small amount of the drug
Ecstasy in Johnson's pockets. A search of Johnson's Newport Beach home
turned up drug paraphernalia and six ounces of marijuana, police said.

Johnson, who has been released from jail on $25,000 bail, faces up to
five years in prison on each count of selling drugs to a minor.
McDermott said the Orange County district attorney's office has yet to
file formal charges.

McDermott said there is no evidence that Johnson did any dealing while
on duty as a teacher's aide. Johnson typically sold drugs at parks and
sometimes tried to enlist teenagers into his operation, he said.

"He recruited customers by walking up to juveniles at a park and
asking them if they had marijuana. If they didn't, he would ask if
they wanted to buy some. Later on, he tried to turn kids into agents.
He had at least one teen working for him," McDermott said.

During a weeklong investigation, police allege, they saw Johnson sell
marijuana to a 15-year-old at a swim meet at Corona del Mar High
School, the only time they saw Johnson deal drugs on a campus.

McDermott said Johnson cleared a criminal background check by the
Newport-Mesa Unified School District before being hired. He also
worked at either a district elementary or intermediate school,
McDermott said.

Johnson tried to report to work Wednesday morning, police said, but
was told to leave the campus by district officials. Martha Fluor, a
Newport-Mesa Unified board member, said Johnson likely will be placed
on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case.

"I'm just shocked and appalled, given the lengths we go to as a
district to do background checks and to protect our students," she
said.