An Ohio high school staff member is alleged to have involved a student in her beef with her ex-husband. The task she tried to put the student up to was so horrid, the police slammed her with some serious charges.
Stephanie Demetrius, the 44-year-old literacy enrichment instructor at the Academy for Urban Scholars High School, is alleged to have pitched the foul favor to her student on March 26, police say. Authorities said Demetrius went to the student to offer $250 as a down payment for “the job.”
What job...? To kill her husband.
Police said according to a phone call between the student and Demetrius, the teacher confirmed her down payment was part of the $2,000 she’d promised to pay the juvenile. Her plan was to make sure her four children were out of her ex-husband’s house in time to send the student to shoot him dead as he worked from home.
“When asked if neighbors would hear the gunfire, she advised that they don’t care about her neighbors,” police wrote in the affidavit,” per ABC News.
Prosecutors say the beef runs deep between the two. They say Demetrius had a protective order against her by her ex-husband and was also in the midst of a divorce. She had violated the order twice but it appears the alleged murder-for-hire plot was the latest incident in the couples’ history of troubles. Court documents say she tried to stab him, run him over as well as set his house on fire prior to this incident, per NBC’s WCMH.
Authorities were notified of her alleged plot when the student’s mother discovered their text messages on his phone. A spokesperson for the academy said she was immediately fired from the school, ABC reported. Police then slammed her with a felony conspiracy charge, per NBC News.
In her arraignment, the reports say Demetrius denied the allegations, calling them “fabricated” and even went as far as asking the court, “Who is the juvenile involved in this case?”
Demetrius is being held on a $150,000 bond, despite her requests for leniency on behalf of her children. Her preliminary hearing is set for April 11. She has not entered a plea.