Santa Clara Principal Charged For Allegedly Selling Methamphetamene

The principal of Montague Elementary School, was arrested Friday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. at a Caltrain station.

A principal of a Santa Clara elementary school was arraigned Monday on five felonies and one misdemeanor -- all related to the sale of drugs.

Eric Dean Lewis, principal of Montague Elementary School, was in custody on Monday, and declined a request for a jailhouse interview. His bail was set at $25,000. He did not enter a plea during his brief court hearing and was ordered to return on Friday. He was referred to the public defender's office.

Court documents show the 32-year-old Lewis was charged with possessing and transporting with the intent to sell controlled substances including methamphetamine, GHB and MDMA, otherwise known as Ecstasy. Lewis also faces a lesser charge of having an opium pipe, the documents show. When police showed up at his home in San Francisco on Friday, he had 4.8 grams of meth, 7 Ecstasy pills, about 450 grams of GHB and clear baggies, documents state.

The Santa Clara County Specialized Enforcement Team report - obtained by NBC Bay Area on Monday - show that Lewis became a target in September after an anonymous tipster told a Mountain View police officer that the principal was selling meth in San Jose and San Francisco. Police also seized numerous cameras inside Lewis' home, including one tucked inside a teddy bear.

The news came as a shock to parents, including Kate Lippold, who described feeling "disheartened."

"It's hard to explain to the children," Lippold said.

Santa Clara Unified School District Supt. Bobbie Plough told NBC Bay Area in a previous interview that Lewis had been well-liked, and that test scores had risen under his tenure. He has been put on unpaid administrative leave following his arrest.

The police reports reveal that last Tuesday, an undercover Mountain View police officer using an alias, contacted Lewis through an online dating service, the principal allegedly used. When the officer told him he was new in town, Lewis allegedly wrote back: "Let's kick it n (sic) blow someclouds (sic)."

Blowing clouds, the officer wrote, means smoking methamphetamine. Lewis then told the officer in the" pretext" conversation that he'd meet him at a San Jose hotel with "the goods," the report states. But then Lewis changed his mind, the report states, saying he'd rather make the exchange in San Francisco. All the while, the report states, Lewis was texting about meth from his workplace in Santa Clara.

On Thursday, the officer secured a search warrant for Lewis' home and car, and was able to arrest him with a team of local and state officers in San Francisco. When he was put into handcuffs, the report states that Lewis appeared confused, though he later acknowledged to police that he was the principal of Montague Elementary.

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