Drugs planted on school volunteer

LOS ANGELES, June 20 (UPI) -- A California couple are accused of planting drugs on a school volunteer who served as the PTA president at their son's school, prosecutors said.

Kelli Peters told KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, she thought it was a joke when police said they found marijuana last year in her unlocked car.

Peters is a volunteer at Plaza Visa Elementary School in Irvine.

Kent and Jill Easter, both 38-year-old attorneys from Irvine, were arrested Tuesday and face felony charges in the case, Orange County prosecutors said.

The couple sued Peters twice in 2010 but both cases were dismissed, Orange County court records show, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors say Jill Easter was unhappy with the way her son was supervised by Peters.

Prosecutors allege Kent Easter drove to the volunteer's home and placed a bag of Vicodin, Percocet, marijuana and a used marijuana pipe behind the driver's seat of her unlocked vehicle. He is accused of intentionally leaving the drugs in plain sight in a conspicuous location, where it would be easily visible from outside the vehicle.

He then allegedly called police and told the dispatcher he was a concerned parent who had witnessed an erratic driver park at the elementary school. He is accused of claiming to have witnessed the woman hide a bag of drugs behind her driver's seat in her car.

Irvine police went to the school and found the drugs. Peters was detained for about 2 hours as police investigated and determined she was in a classroom at the time Kent Easter claimed to have seen her hide drugs in her car.

Peters, named as Jane Doe in a release from the Orange County district attorney's office, also consented to a search of her home, which showed no evidence to support drug use or possession and did not support a link to show that she was knowingly in possession of the marijuana or prescription pills found in her vehicle, prosecutors said.

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Drugs planted on school volunteer