FAIRFAX TEACHER SUSPENDED AFTER ARREST ON DRUG CHARGE IN D.C.

A 14-year Fairfax County high school teacher has been suspended without pay
following his arrest in the District on a charge of possessing cocaine with
the intent to distribute.

Fred Benevento, 47, a math teacher at Fairfax High School and former head
football coach at Langley High School, was arrested March 19 during a
stakeout conducted by D.C. police, who said they found 13 plastic bags of
crack cocaine in his car.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge last week and is to be tried in D.C.
Superior Court on July 19.

Fairfax County school officials said Benevento has been suspended pending
the outcome of the trial. He also has been suspended from his job as a
part-time assistant in the club football program at George Mason University,
GMU officials said.

Benevento, of the 5400 block of Ashleigh Road in Fairfax, taught at West
Springfield and Langley high schools before transferring to Fairfax High in
1994. While at Langley, he became one of Northern Virginia's most successful
high school football coaches, leading the school to two regional titles in
three seasons and a berth in the state finals in 1993.

According to court documents filed by prosecutors, police saw Benevento pull
onto the unit block of Rhode Island Avenue NW in a blue Buick shortly before
3 p.m. on March 19 and meet with a man who appeared to be handing him drugs.
Police arrested Benevento a few blocks away.

Benevento told police that the bags of cocaine found in his car "came flying
through his open window" and that he "was just looking at them when the
police officers arrived," the court documents said.

Benevento, who has an unlisted telephone number, could not be reached for
comment yesterday. "He's a very, very good friend and a good guy. Hopefully,
we can work this thing out," said his attorney, William G. Hundley,
declining to comment further.

Parents and students at Fairfax High expressed shock as word of Benevento's
arrest spread through the school community. They said they had not known
about the drug charge until a story on his arrest appeared in yesterday's
Washington Times.

"He was a really good teacher -- pretty cool," said Paola Calderon, 14, a
freshman taking algebra from Benevento this year.

Calderon said Benevento led a lively classroom -- explaining algebra
concepts clearly, but still managing to trade jokes with the class. She said
a substitute teacher told students yesterday that she would be their teacher
for the remainder of the year.

Ricky Martin, 16, a sophomore who was in Benevento's class last year, said
the teacher was willing to help students with their schoolwork, whether
inside or outside class.

Margaret Ochs, whose daughter took Benevento's algebra class as a freshman,
said: "He had a good rapport with her; he was concerned and helpful -- all
those things you want a teacher to be. The rest has come as quite a shock."

Benevento was wooed from Langley to become football coach at Centreville
High School in 1994. But he resigned from Centreville in August of that year
amid allegations that he had conducted preseason practices before the
official state start date. He was then moved to Fairfax High.

Benevento is married and has four children, according to D.C. court
documents, and has no previous criminal convictions. Law enforcement
authorities said they have no evidence he was selling drugs to students.

Also arrested was Alfonzo Williams, 35, a Northeast Washington man accused
of selling the drugs to Benevento. Williams, who has three previous
drug-related convictions, allegedly was caught with 51 plastic bags of
cocaine and $136 in cash.

Staff writer Jacqueline L. Salmon contributed to this report.