Chemistry instructor was allegedly $20,000 behind in payments

HOUSTON - A chemistry teacher who was $20,000 behind on car payments gave passing grades to two failing students who stole and burned her car so she could collect insurance money, a fire investigator said.

Aldine Senior High School teacher Tramesha Lashon Fox, 32, was charged with insurance fraud and arson, and the two students were charged with arson.

Roger Luna, 18, and Darwin Arias, 17, 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, said senior fire investigator Dustin Deutsch of the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office.

Luna was arrested Tuesday. Bail was set at $10,000 and he was expected to be arraigned on Thursday, said Lt. John Martin, spokeswoman for the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.

Neither Fox nor Arias was in custody early Wednesday afternoon, and they could not immediately be reached for comment. No phone listings could be found.

The teens initially thought her scheme was a joke, but Fox continued to pursue them, Deutsch said. On May 27, the last day of school, the students took the unlocked 2003 Chevrolet Malibu from a shopping mall, drove it to a wooded area and set it on fire, he said.

Fox reported the theft that day, after already having bought a 2005 Toyota Corolla, investigators 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.

Who's dumber?
The two idiots who could not pass a high school class
Or, the teacher who hired them to torch her car?

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I'm sick of .sig files

I passed high school biology because I spent one entire semester restoring the teachers corvette during class. And he had me wire a rivals horn to his brakes once as an April fools joke (which would have worked out fine had said rivals wife not traded cars with him that day and drove it home from school).

I might have set something on fire, but probably not as I could have passed on my own.

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Pxland

2001 Honda Accord

1995 Jeep Cherokee

1973 MB 280SEL 4.5

Oh man, another black eye for public education....

You know the old saying about the banality of evil? I just looked up "banal" to refresh my memory. M-W.com says -- banal: adj.; lacking originality, freshness, or novelty. Banality is the noun form of course. Not trying to talk down to anyone, just making sure I've got the definition right.

It is amazing, the dumbness of the criminal mind. And then she bought a new Toyota, before even having reported the theft! (!?!) People be some dummbb critters sometimes. Present company excepted, of course.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

How could one get $20,000 behind on car payments?

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

on a malibu of all things

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'O=00=O'
bmw 2002.
long live the legend