Kula educators charged in drug case

Two men arrested in connection with the Kaua‘i Police Department’s recent drug bust have been identified as a Kula Intermediate and High School eighth-grade teacher and the vice principal.

Police seized 50 marijuana plants, processed marijuana, drug paraphernalia and ammunition last week from a Moloa‘a home. The raid prompted the arrests of Kula Intermediate and High School Vice Principal and Athletic Director David Rojeck, 42, and Alan Bertolino, 43, the school’s eighth-grade physical science teacher.

Bertolino faces charges of second-degree commercial production of marijuana, third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug and third-degree prohibited acts related to drug paraphernalia.

Rojeck is accused of third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, a petty misdemeanor.

Whether Rojeck or Bertolino are facing disciplinary action from the school in relation to the accusations remains unclear, as Principal David Mireles declined to comment on the case.

However, Rojeck’s picture has been removed from the private school’s Web site.

The arrests may send a mixed message to the school’s students, as the role models were arrested exactly one week after dozens of officers visited the school to perform a drug-bust simulation.

Vice and traffic unit officers rappelled from helicopters that hovered above the school’s Kilauea campus simulating a theatrical arrest and mock eradication of marijuana plants.

The presentation was part of the Kaua‘i Police Department’s

ongoing effort to prevent drug use at an early age, KPD Assistant Chief of Police Roy Asher said.

Promoting drug use within 1,000 feet of a school can augment the sentence of a person convicted of drug dealing, however, at press time, the KPD had no evidence to indicate any marijuana was being sold at the school, Asher said.