A substitute teacher in Lake County, Fla., faces child molestation charges after she allegedly let a seventh-grader hit her vape pen on school grounds.
Jennifer Gaine Hale, 50, was arrested Friday in connection with the incident.
Two boys at Eustic Middle School were chatting for the last lesson on Tuesday when one commented that he wanted to try vaping, after one Arrest Affidavit Received from InsideLake.com.
Hale, who was working as a substitute teacher that day, reportedly told students she had a nicotine vape pen. After one of the boys went to her desk, she pulled out something marked “a multicolored nicotine vape” and asked him if he wanted to “strike,” according to the arrest report.
After the boy smoked from the vaporizer, he reportedly handed it back to her. She allegedly told him to be careful because her pen contained a salt-like substance, but the boy didn’t know what it was, according to the affidavit.
She reportedly told the boy not to tell anyone because she didn’t want to get in trouble.
Although the boy didn’t tell anyone about vaping with the sub, another student did. The next day, Eustis Middle School principal Michael Spencer asked Hale about the incident.
Hale admitted to letting the student infuse her vape and said she did because she was “just trying to fit in” according to Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV TV.
Spencer then reported the incident to the Lake County School Board’s Human Resources department before escorting Hale off campus and telling her that she was not allowed to return.
HuffPost contacted a number listed as Hale, but the call was not answered.
A spokeswoman for the Lake County School District told HuffPost that Hale “is no longer employed at Lake County schools.”
In addition, she was arrested and sentenced to the Lake County Jail on a single charge of child molestation, a third-degree felony, and was later released on a $1,000 bond.
Allegedly began working as a substitute teacher for the district in November 2022 and had no prior disciplinary issues.
The parents of the students at the school were shocked by the allegations.
“Teacher. It’s scary now,” said Jennifer Hunter, the mother of an eighth grader at the school. said Daytona Beach NBC affiliate WESH. “I never thought a substitute teacher would give my child or someone else’s child anything like this. Just other students.”
Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri told the station: “You are not able to do that. You just can’t. That should be common sense.”
He added: “She has a responsibility to this classroom to protect children. Don’t abuse them.”