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BC  

Teacher suspended for weed

A Surrey teacher who claimed 45 grams of marijuana in his car – along with a scale and baggies – was for medicinal purposes has been suspended for a month.

An Aug. 2 B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision released Aug. 20 said Eugenio Alfonso Bahamonde was an on-call teacher in November 2012.

He arrived at school in his car in which was a gym bag containing 45.6 grams of marijuana in various sizes of Ziploc bags, $1,440 in cash, an electronic scale, rolling papers and a box of Ziploc bags.

His workday ended at 2:50 p.m., the decision said. At 3:28 p.m., he was seen at School Ave. and Killarney Street in Vancouver near an elementary school where another man got in his car and exited minutes later.

Police pulled Bahamonde over and searched his car. He was charged with possession of marijuana and possession for the purposes of trafficking.

In June 2015, a judge ruled his arrest unlawful and seized evidence inadmissible at trial. The decision was upheld on appeal in December 2016.

The district terminated Bahamonde’s employment in 2018.

The decision said Bahamonde admitted he was in possession of the marijuana unlawfully but that it was for medicinal use; however, he had no authorization to have it for that purpose.



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