Bus Driver Accused of Giving Students Fentanyl – NBC Los Angeles

A woman who works as a bus driver and provides campus security was arrested on suspicion of providing fentanyl to students at a Riverside school.

Melissa Harloam-Garrison, 46, who lives in a cottage on the property of Bright Futures Academy, was arrested by Riverside police and booked on possession of narcotics for sale, sale of narcotics to minors, possession of controlled substances, drug addict in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm on school campus, being a person prohibited from owning or possession a firearm, and child endangerment.

Bright Futures Academy is a non-public school that serves K-12 students with special needs.

Harloam-Garrison is being held on $50,000 bail.⁣

Her husband, who also lives in the campus cottage, was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm on campus and being a person prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm. He is being held on $25,000 bail.⁣

It was not immediately clear whether they have an attorney.

A court appearance was scheduled for Friday.

NBCLA has reached out to the Bright Futures Academy for comment.

In a statement, Riverside police said drugs, guns and ammunition were recovered from the cottage. Officers responded to the location Tuesday after receiving a call for service regarding a student at the school.

Officers were contacted by staff members whom they suspect was providing fentanyl to students. Officers learned that a student at the school overdosed on the drug last week at a home in another community, police said.

Details about the student’s condition were not immediately available. In 2021, overdoses involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in the United States surpassed 71,000, up 23% from the year before.

“Officers conducted a search of the cottage and found over a hundred suspected Fentanyl pills, two handguns, and various types of ammunition,” police said in the statement.