FORSYTH COUNTY: Parents charged in teen drug case

Two Forsyth County parents are facing felony drug charges over an incident earlier this month in which three high school boys became seriously ill after taking liquid methadone.

Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies have charged Deborah Pendleton, 45, and Oscar Carter III, 64, with one count each of felony possession of a Schedule II narcotic.

Both have been released from jail on $22,220 bond, Capt. Frank Huggins, spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, said Thursday.

The couple’s 16-year-old daughter —- a junior at South Forsyth High School whose name is not being released —- is in custody on felony possession and sale charges for allegedly selling liquid methadone to a 15-year-old classmate Oct. 3.

The boy then sold some of the drug to two other 15-year-olds, and all three became sick and had to be hospitalzed, Huggins said. One of the boys went into cardiac arrest, he said.

“It could have been disastrous,” Huggins said.

He said Carter owns a methadone clinic in Louisiana but left that state after a recent hurricane.

Investigators found no evidence that Carter —- who is not licensed to possess or sell methadone in Georgia —- planned to sell the drugs in Forsyth County, Huggins said.

Carter’s daughter told investigators she thought the drug was the pain-killer hydrocodone, he said.

The three boys have been charged with felony drug possession. The one who allegedly bought the drugs also is facing a distribution charge, Huggins said.

None of the four students have been back in school since the incident, and all are facing disciplinary hearings that could result in permanent expulsion, said Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for Forsyth County Schools.

She said teachers have discussed the incident with students. The Sheriff’s Office also conducted a routine drug search on campus, resulting in one student’s arrest for marijuana possession, Caracciolo said.