Teacher Cited For Marijuana

The Hernando High School science teacher and assistant football coach who was with another assistant coach arrested for possession of marijuana after Friday's game has been given a citation of his own.

Brooksville police met Stephen L. Stokes at school early Tuesday morning to give him a notice to appear for possession of marijuana, Chief George Turner said Tuesday.

Hernando High Principal Ken Pritz removed Stokes, 32, from the coaching staff later in the day.

Stokes, of Lecanto, should have been arrested along with Walter Truzack, a volunteer assistant coach for the team, on Friday night, Turner said.

"It was an oversight," Turner said.

Police responded at about 11:30 p.m. to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked behind a business at 1250 Broad St., in the South Plaza shopping center. Officers found Truzack and "another Hernando High football coach" sitting in the vehicle with an open six-pack of beer. Officers smelled marijuana and questioned the two men.

Truzack, who was behind the wheel, produced a small baggie of marijuana from his pocket and "stated that he and his passenger were football coaches for Hernando High School and (were) there to smoke and have a few beers after the game."

Truzack was given a notice to appear on a charge of possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and released. Stokes was not, but he should have been, Turner said. Both men admitted to smoking the drug, he said.

Officer Jeffrey Pasternak wrote up the citation for Truzack. Sgt. Jason Brough, who also responded to the scene, said Tuesday he thought Pasternak was writing citations for both men and caught the error when he reviewed the report Monday.

Officials in the school district's Volunteers in Education program revoked Truzack's volunteer status Monday. Pritz said Monday that Stokes would not face disciplinary action unless he was charged, too.

On Tuesday, Pritz said Stokes will remain in the classroom until he goes to court. It will be up to the superintendent to decide if and how to discipline him based on the outcome in court, Pritz said.

Pritz said he felt he needed to remove Stokes from the coaching staff immediately to "send a message" to staff and students.

"I just feel we have to establish a level of character and decisions were made by these two men that, in my opinion, were not the best decisions," Pritz said.

Stokes could not be reached for comment Tuesday.