By Joan Garrett
Staff Writer
A former Signal Mountain Middle-High School math teacher, indicted in June 2009 on charges of conspiring with his wife to sell prescription drugs on the street, should not qualify for a delay in his case, according to a prosecutor.
Jonathan Wesley Greene fraudulently obtained and sold 8,500 tablets of hydrocodone and 1,000 tablets of Xanax with a total street value of $90,000, according to a court filing submitted Tuesday. The money was used to pay for the couple's wedding, according to the filing, which denies Greene's application for a pre-trial diversion.
A pre-trial diversion could delay Greene's case for up to two years and, if Greene obeys the law, his charges could be dismissed or removed from his record, said his attorney, Mike Light.
But the Hamilton County District Attorney's office does not believe Greene deserves pre-trial diversion.
"This criminal activity is not a one-time lapse in judgment but a concerted scheme to obtain money from the illegal sale of prescription drugs over an extended period of time in order to pay expenses for a wedding," Assistant District Attorney Cameron Williams wrote in his court filing. "Traditionally, teachers and people associated with that profession are viewed as role models for many, if not all, their students. Your client undermined that tradition when he engaged in this criminal venture."
Greene and his wife, Jacqueline Newman, face charges of criminal conspiracy, theft over $10,000, unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and fraud, according to court documents.
Light said Greene should qualify for a pre-trial diversion because of his personal background and his lack of a criminal record.
"He is a qualified defendant," Light said.
The attorney said he plans to ask Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole to review Williams' decision to deny diversion.
The next court date in the case is Dec. 13.
A Hamilton County grand jury indictment states that, between May 2008 and April 2009, Newman filled fraudulent prescriptions for hydrocodone or Xanax while working as a pharmacy technician at Walgreens on Brainerd Road.
In a statement to police, Newman said she came up with the plan because her parents didn't want her to marry Greene.
"My parents pretty much told me that they would not be paying for my wedding," she said in court documents. "I really wanted a big wedding and I knew that I didn't have the money for it."
Greene and Newman, who married in June 2009 at Dallas Bay Baptist Church, have been out on bond since their indictment.
Court records show Greene now works at Lee University in the math lab administration.
Contact Joan Garrett at jgarrett@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601.
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
When you read the headlines containing the words.. teacher,.trial.. immediately the thought of a teacher-student involvement pops in mind. I guess the issue of teacher- drugs is not as dramatic as it would have been at an earlier time.
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