CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A former Hamlin Middle School assistant principal accused of planting a vape pen on students while she was a school administrator in March 2023 was arrested and charged with crimes in connection with that incident Thursday.
Amanda Lee Corona is charged with tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair and official oppression.
In a probable cause statement that was filed ahead of her arrest, an investigator with the Nueces County Sheriff's Criminal Investigation Unit said he was called to the CCISD school last year to look into the allegation.
It was there that he said he was given an audio recording in which Corona and CCISD police officer Andrew Gonzalez found a vape pen containing THC (marijuana) wax. The report states that the vape pen was found behind a filing cabinet.
Sheriff J.C. Hooper told 3NEWS on Monday that Gonzalez was bonded out of the Nueces County Jail on Saturday morning.
The investigator states that Corona and Gonzalez could be heard agreeing to put the pen into a student's backpack on the recording.
The statement explains that student was disciplined by school officials when the vape pen was found in his belongings. A second student was disciplined after Corona and Gonzalez said the first student accused her of owning the pen.
A third student also was disciplined when the same pen also was found in his binder. The investigator states that Corona and Gonzalez also planted the pen in this student's belongings.
In a statement, CCISD communications director Leanne Libby told 3NEWS:
CCISD acts immediately to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing, a process which can include placing employees on administrative leave with pay.
In March 2023, school administration took swift action to launch an investigation into the allegations at Hamlin. While we cannot share details of personnel actions or investigations, we can confirm Ms. Corona was on administrative leave starting in March 2023 and has not been employed at CCISD since August 2023. A campus officer named in the allegations has not been employed at CCISD since March 2023.
We respectfully refer any additional questions to local law enforcement.
Corona currently appears in the staff directory for Robstown ISD's Early College High School as an English teacher.
This is a developing story. 3NEWS will provide updates as they become available.
Framed student's mother responds
Yvonne Gatica described her shift in trust after the former assistant principal of Hamlin Middle School, Amanda Lee Corona, and CCISD police officer Andrew Gonzalez framed her son by putting a vape pen containing THC in his backpack.
"I don't trust anyone, not even the educators when I did before," she said. "When the teacher would call me and say whatever, I was quick to believe the teacher, the principal, the assistant principal."
Information from the case affidavit obtained by 3NEWS reads that an investigator from the Nueces County Sheriff's Criminal Investigation Unit was called to Hamlin last year to look into the situation.
He was given an audio recording, in which both Corona and the officer are audibly heard agreeing to put the pen in the student's bag.
In a faint audio file provided to 3NEWS by Gatica you can hear Corona suggesting to put the pen is her child's bag asking the officer which one it was.
"Pin it on Cash. It's that one."
"My son would have been charged, he would have had a felony on his record," Gatica said.
3NEWS spoke parent Archie Hooper who was picking up his godson from school.
He said situations like this cannot be taken lightly, especially when a student's future is on the line.
"Actions need to be taken," Hooper said. "This can ruin their reputation. It doesn't make them look good at all."