Authorities: Tutor had teen sell him her stimulant medication
A substitute high school teacher has been charged with contributing to the criminal delinquency of a minor after convincing a teen to sell him her Adderall stimulant medication, officials say.
Bail was set at $100,000 Tuesday for John Mixer, 32, of Bloomingdale.
DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney Amalia Romano said Mixer owned a private tutoring business and also worked as a substitute teacher in Glenbard High School District 87.
His tutoring business advertises that he specializes in tutoring children with disabilities, including those who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Adderall is an amphetamine prescribed to people with ADHD to increase their ability to pay attention and stay focused. It is also sometimes prescribed to people who have narcolepsy, according to Prescribers' Digital Reference.
He has been tutoring the 15-year-old victim, who is a sophomore in high school, since she was in seventh grade, Romano said.
The victim's mother became suspicious in October, and checked her daughter's cellphone. She found Snapchat messages that indicated Mixer started asking the girl to sell him her pills in March, Romano said.
The messages also indicated he was willing to come to her home to buy them, or have her sneak out to meet him, Romano said.
Mixer bought a total of 30 pills between March and September, at $20 a pill, according to Romano.
She said Mixer, who attends Chamberlain University, told investigators needed the pills to help him study for a nursing degree.
Mixer has bachelor's degrees in Spanish and biochemistry, and a master's degree in chemistry, according to the website for his business, Tutorologix, which advertises services for children in kindergarten through 12th grade.
If he posts bond, he must not have any unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18.
Glenbard District 87 community relations coordinator said Tuesday that Mixer no longer works in the district. He started as a substitute teacher in November 2017 and has worked at all four of the district's high schools.
Mixer's next court date is Dec. 23.
The case was investigated by the DuPage County sheriff's office.
"It terrifies me, as a parent, to even see a case like this, but it should remind us all to be very aware of where our children go when not at home, who they are in contact with on social media, and who they might be taking a car ride with," Sheriff James Mendrick said in a news release.
DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said, in a news release, that Mixer "used his position as a trusted mentor" to corrupt the student he was supposed to be helping, and found that "extremely disturbing."