A former L.E.A.D. Academy teacher accused of selling oxycodone to a student inside his Montgomery classroom has been indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking and firearms charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama announced Monday.
Langston Fremont Carter, 30, of Montgomery, is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm within a school zone. He made his initial appearance in federal court on Thursday and will be arraigned Tuesday.
Carter taught high school history at L.E.A.D. Academy, Montgomery’s first charter school, which opened on the Eastern Boulevard in 2019. Executive Director Erik Estill said Carter had worked at the school for a year and three months.
Montgomery police were called to the campus on the afternoon of October 22 after staff found a student with two 5 mg oxycodone pills. The student told officers his teacher sold them to him, according to court records reported by WSFA. He said Carter had offered to sell him pills “on multiple occasions,” that he paid $10 and that Carter told him to Cash App the money to his girlfriend. The student didn’t have a Cash App account, so he had a classmate send the payment. Investigators verified the transaction. The student said he then picked up the pills from Carter in the classroom.
A K-9 officer ran a drug dog around Carter’s car in the school parking lot. The dog alerted, and police opened the trunk. Inside a sling bag, according to the affidavit, officers found 6.9 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, empty plastic bags, 18.9 grams of mushroom-infused gummies, nineteen more 5 mg oxycodone pills and a loaded Beretta 9mm handgun.
Students were placed on lockdown during the search. The school said the lockdown was ordered by the Montgomery Police Department “to ensure integrity of the investigation.”
“L.E.A.D. Academy Montgomery Charter Schools is aware of the arrest of a teacher employed by the school,” the school said in a statement.
Carter was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Facility before 4 a.m. the next morning on state charges of possession of a firearm on school property, two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and first-degree possession of marijuana. Bond was set at $300,000. The school announced that Friday he had been fired.
The federal indictment followed one week later. The drug counts carry up to 20 years in prison. The charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking carries a mandatory minimum of five years that must run consecutively to any other sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.
The ATF and Montgomery Police Department investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Feil is prosecuting.
An indictment is an allegation. Carter is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
