School Leaders Accused of Vigilante Drug Sting

The assistant principal and security officer of East Hartford Middle School are learning that taking the school’s drug problem into their own hands doesn’t pay.

The problem was the unorthodox way police said they tried to catch someone they thought was selling drugs.

Last week, assistant principal Amy Watson, 37, of Manchester, was arrested for allegedly sending a student to make an undercover drug buy -- and then trying to get him to hide her involvement.

Saturday, Edwin Soto, 49, of East Hartford, the school’s security officer, turned himself in to the East Hartford Police Department.

It went down like this: he and Watson sent a middle school student to buy drugs from another student in an attempt to catch the student selling drugs, police said. Then, the school resource officer assigned to the Middle School got wind of what happened and started investigating.

To make matters even worse, after learning the cops were on the drug trail, Watson tried to manipulate the victim’s story if anyone asked him any questions, police said.

Soto was charged with risk of injury to a minor and was released on a non-surety bond of 5,000. Watson was charged with risk of injury to a minor and tampering with a witness.
 

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