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Beth-Center special education teacher accused in drug-related stop with former student

DENBO, Pa. — A Bethlehem-Center special education teacher has been suspended with pay following what police said was a drug-related arrest.

Police said a car pulled off along Main Street in Denbo, Washington County, and caught the eye of an officer.

Police said Jacqueline Righetti, 45, was inside the car and appeared to be extremely nervous.  Police said she was visibly shaking.

Police said she told an officer that she and her passenger, a younger man, who she identified as her nephew, had stopped to talk.

According to police, the man later told police that Righetti told him to lie and that she was not in fact his aunt.  He revealed Righetti was his former teacher at Bethlehem Center High School, police said.

According to him, the two had met up to perform sexual acts, police said.

The school administration confirmed that Righetti is a teacher at the school and has been suspended pending further investigation.

Police said when they searched her SUV, they discovered two white pills, a snorting straw and a piece of paper with residue believed to be cocaine.

When asked about it, police said Righetti told them the substance was cocaine and that her husband must have placed it In her pants while she wasn't wearing them.

Righetti has been charged with disorderly conduct and possession.