VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A Virginia circuit court judge is making an example out of teacher Christopher James Brydge, who was busted with drugs in his school office.
Circuit Court Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. veered off the state sentencing guidelines to issue Brydge, a former orchestra teacher at Tallwood High School, a three year prison sentence for selling marijuana to a colleague at school, on school grounds, last November, WAVY.com reports.
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Brydge pleaded guilty June 17 to possession of heroin, and possession with the intent to distribute between a half-ounce and five pounds of marijuana.
“Judge Padrick’s sentence highly exceeds the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines, which would have Brydge serve no more than three months in jail,” according to the news site.
Brydge, 41, was arrested at Tallwood on November 5, 2013 after an assistant principal smelled marijuana and asked a school resource officer to look into it. The officer reportedly traced the smell to Tallwood’s orchestra office, where police found marijuana, a scale, a black case with heroin, needles, a burnt spoon and a lighter, according to media reports.
The teacher confessed to selling the pot. He also admitted the heroin was his, as well, investigators with the Virginia Beach Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit said.
“He also told police that he had more marijuana in his Norfolk home. This was later recovered by police,” officials said in a release, according to ABC 13. “As the investigation continued, officers learned that Brydge had sold marijuana to another teacher during school hours on school grounds.”
Brydge resigned from his job shortly after his arrest. School officials told the media teachers at the school are only drug tested if they’re suspected of drug use.
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Brydge had worked for Virginia Beach City Public Schools for about 13 years before the incident, according to the Virginian Pilot.
Neither media reports or police officials released the name of the teacher involved in the drug buy, or whether the second teacher was reprimanded or faced criminal charges.
Many who commented on Brydge’s harsh sentence online wanted to know why police and school officials have not addressed those obvious omissions.
“And why doesn’t this story say what happened to the other teacher he sold pot to?” UN-FLIPPING-BELIEVABLE… posted to HamptonRoads.com. “I only hope the three-year sentence stands up on appeal since it’s way harsher – and rightly so – than the guidelines.”
“Idiot,” Simply Gorgeous posted to WAVY.com. “And what is the status of the other teacher who bought pot from Brydge during the school day?”
“On one of the other news sites, Brydge’s girlfriend is complaining that he is going to jail but the snitch who turned him in faced no action.”
Others debated whether or not three years behind bars is an excessive punishment for the crime.
“Three years? Our justice system is so broken,” OverDriven posted to WAVY. “Yes, he made some bad choices, but there is no way this guy deserves to have three years of his life taken away from him. One day society will look back on these times with utter astonishment at how barbaric our punishments for drug use and addiction were.”
“Had he just been busted with a small amount of pot off school grounds I would agree with you,” master_shake replied. “But he had enough for an ‘intent to distribute’ charge as well as heroine, needles and other items. He brought into a school and was using/dealing on school property. For that reason I agree with the three years.”
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