Former Ringgold teacher pleads guilty in coke trafficking case
A former teacher at Ringgold Elementary School South pleaded guilty to a charge she was part of a multi-state conspiracy to deal cocaine throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Renee Kinder, 46, of Donora did so Thursday, when she appeared before U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak in Pittsburgh.
Kinder, who taught remedial reading at the Carroll Township school, was charged in one of two indictments a grand jury returned in April against a total of 39 people who were reputedly involved in the syndicate, which prosecutors place among the largest in state history.
A statement from federal prosecutors described her as having bought cocaine on “multiple occasions” from Brandon Thomas – an alleged mid-level dealer who also faces charges – at his home in Donora before passing it along to unspecified co-conspirators between March and December of last year.
Federal prosecutors said Thomas received “large quantities” of cocaine from 26-year-old Jamie Lightfoot Jr. of Penn Hills. Lightfoot and his brother Deaubre, 28, are charged as part of the same network. Authorities said they allegedly worked with Don Juan Mendoza, a reputed kingpin from the Atlanta area who’s also named in the indictment, to ship drugs by van and RV from California and Georgia to distribute across the Pittsburgh region.
Stephen Stallings, Kinder’s attorney, didn’t return a message following her plea. Court records show she’s free on unsecured bond.
Hornak scheduled sentencing for Jan. 22.
Ringgold solicitor Tim Berggren said the district wouldn’t comment on the situation, “other than to say (Kinder) is no longer an employee of the district.”
Kinder had worked for the district since 2006, and was paid $45,100 during the 2016 school year, according to data obtained last year from the state Public School Employees’ Retirement System. A more recent figure from administrators of the system wasn’t immediately available Thursday afternoon.
Kinder is the third member of the alleged network to plead guilty. In June, Anthony Davis of Donora was sentenced to 35 months in prison and three years of probation following his guilty plea to a charge he maintained a a stash house for the network. Monty Grinage of North Braddock pleaded guilty last month to counts of conspiracy to deal cocaine and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.