NEWS

Former teacher arrested during warrant search

Sara Nealeigh
Reporter

LATHAM – A former Chillicothe City Schools teacher is facing multiple charges tied to a search warrant served at his Latham home earlier this week.

Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said the warrant was served on Thomas Collins at his residence in the 7200 block of Ohio 124 in Latham as part of a drug trafficking investigation.

Members of the U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force entered Collins’ home at 1:52 a.m. Tuesday and took Collins into custody on charges of obstructing official business and resisting arrest. During the search, authorities reported finding a substance believed to be Oxycontin and items they think might have been stolen.

Reader said additional charges could be filed depending on whether testing of the substance found confirms that it is Oxycontin and whether the suspect items are confirmed as stolen. He added that any additional charges would be brought to the next session of a Pike County grand jury.

Collins had been a special intervention teacher at Chillicothe High School from 1996 until he resigned in 2012.

According to a review of his personnel file, Collins was disciplined several times during his tenure at CHS for repeated absences, leaving school early on multiple occasions, taking more sick days than he had available, and failure to perform duties required of his position.

He had one suspension on his record without pay for three days after using more sick days in a year than his contract allowed.

“Absenteeism has been a continuous issue with you over the years,” Superintendent Jon Saxton said in a notice of reprimand to Collins in November 2011.

Collins resigned from his position in May 2012, shortly after being placed on administrative leave. In April of that year, Collins had received notice of possible disciplinary action against him based on an alleged threat he had previously made to harm CHS Principal Jeff Fisher and “failure” to follow state standards and execute duties required of his position.

Before his employment at CHS, Collins also taught for four years at Piketon High School.