HOUSTON (AP) -- A chemistry teacher surrendered to authorities Thursday to face charges that she gave passing grades to two failing students for torching her car so she could collect insurance money.
Tramesha Lashon Fox, 32, of Kingwood, was released on $15,000 bond, said Deputy Kathryn Martin, spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriff's Department. The Aldine Senior High School teacher faces felony arson and insurance fraud charges.
Darwin Arias, one of the two students charged with arson, also was taken into custody Thursday, Martin said. Bail for the 17-year-old had not been set.
Fox was at least three months behind on her car payments when she allegedly persuaded Arias and Roger Luna to steal and burn her 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, investigators said. Luna, 18, was arrested Tuesday and released on $10,000 bail Wednesday, Martin said.
On May 27, the last day of school, the students took the unlocked car from a shopping mall, drove it to a wooded area and set it on fire, senior fire investigator Dustin Deutsch of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said Wednesday.
Fox reported the theft that day, after already having bought a 2005 Toyota Corolla, investigators said. She owed about $20,000 on the Chevrolet and had been facing repossession, Deutsch said.
Luna and Arias had been failing Fox's class up to their final exam. But Arias received a 90 and Luna an 80, grades high enough for them to pass the semester, Deutsch said.
Aldine Independent School District officials said Fox remained employed while they waited to see the fire marshal's report. The students will probably be placed in an alternative school when they return, depending on what happens to them in court, school officials said.
