LUTZ – According to a report published by The Tampa Tribune late last week, former foreign language teacher Lamonte Hambrick is alleged to have started stealing powerful prescription pills as far back as early March.
The 30-year-old Hambrick was arrested last Tuesday evening on charges he took more than 16,000 pills from the CVS pharmacy at 813 W. Bearss Avenue, where he worked a second job as a pharmacy technician. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, he took 9,200 Hydrocodone pills and 7,200 Alprazolam (Xanax) pills between March 1 and May 11. Hambrick admitted to investigators that he would give them to a friend who would in turn sell the pills.
Hillsborough County school district spokesman Stephen Hegarty said the district decided to terminate Hambrick’s employment in March, before any drug allegations surfaced. According to Hegarty, district officials were in the process of “non-renomination”, meaning Hambrick would not return for employment in the district after the second semester concluded. However, principal Brenda Grasso told The Oracle last Thursday that Hambrick formally resigned his position with the school in March of this year before the non-renomination process concluded.
“He was going to finish the school-year, but now he’s not,” Hegarty told the Tribune. “Obviously, this is a very serious charge, but we take (the teacher) out of the classroom and get them away from kids as fast as we can.”
Hambrick was a sponsor of the Spanish dance club during his time at Steinbrenner. He also taught at the University of South Florida between 2004 and 2007.
Jeff Odom / Sports Editor
Information from the Tampa Tribune was used in this report.
