Charges dropped against SC kindergarten teacher arrested in 2017

Oct. 27, 2020 update: The charges against Mary Hamilton were dropped in 2017.

A kindergarten teacher at Myrtle Beach Primary School was arrested Thursday on several drug charges, according to records from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Records show that Mary Britt Hamilton, 31, was arrested and charged with six counts of violating drug distribution laws. She was released on bond the same day.

Chief Human Resources Officer Mary Anderson said the district has reached out to Hamilton, who has been employed since August 2015, but has not heard back yet.

Anderson said typically, if charges are still pending when school is back in session, an employee would be placed on administrative leave while the case comes to a conclusion.

“Typically if a person a person is arrested and found guilty of charges we reported that to the state department (of education), they may take action on that teacher’s certificate,” said Anderson, who stressed that she couldn’t comment on exactly what would happen to Hamilton.

Hamilton obtained a generic form of Adderall by fraud on six different occasions between December 2016 and March 2017, using a false doctor’s signature, according to a warrant obtained from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

The drug is a schedule II controlled substance, according to the South Carolina Bureau of Drug Control, a division of DHEC.

According to the warrants, Hamilton used a false signature to obtain the drug from the CVS pharmacy at 1306 38th Ave. North on Dec. 29, 2016, Feb. 1 and March 6.

She used a false signature to obtain the drug from the Walmart pharmacy on 540 Seaboard St. on Jan. 7, Feb. 9 and March 16, according to the warrants.

This story was originally published June 19, 2017 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Charges dropped against SC kindergarten teacher arrested in 2017."