A Montgomery County Public Schools first-grade teacher arrested in connection to the March fentanyl-related death of a man in Washington, D.C., allegedly sold him drugs in the months leading to his death, left her classroom to sell drugs and bragged about selling counterfeit pills, according to court charging documents.
Sarah Katherine Magid, 34, who taught at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School in Silver Spring, was arrested Monday after county police and special agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted a search and seizure warrant of her Burtonsville home, police said Tuesday in a news release.
Magid is being held without bond following a hearing Tuesday in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville, according to court records. Court records indicate that Magid is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 13 for a preliminary hearing.
Dyan Owens, Magid’s public defender, could not be reached for comment this week. Melissa Rothstein, chief of external affairs for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, said Thursday it was “too early in Ms. Magid’s proceeding for us to have sufficient information to provide any comment.”
Magid had been employed by MCPS since 2022, according to charging documents. She has been placed on leave, according to MCPS spokesperson Liliana López.
After Magid’s arrest, Charles Drew Elementary Principal Meredith Casper told the school community in a letter that Magid was on leave. She said limited information could be shared about Magid’s leave as it is considered a personnel matter.
The school is working to identify a “qualified substitute teacher to maintain continuity of instruction” for the students assigned to Magid’s class, Casper said. MCPS students return to classes Monday.
“The leadership team at our school will also work closely with the substitute teacher to ensure a smooth start to the year,” Casper said. “In addition, we will be providing resources for students and staff in the coming days in the event that they need support in processing this information.”
According to police, Magid was taken into custody Monday without incident after police obtained an arrest warrant charging her with violations of the state’s controlled dangerous substance statutes.
According to court records, Magid also has other criminal charges on her record. They include a 2010 charge for driving/attempting to drive while impaired by alcohol and a 2020 charge for driving while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance. Magid pleaded guilty to both charges.
When asked why Magid was hired while having a criminal record, López did not specifically address the nature of Magid’s convictions, but referred to the laws the district follows when hiring. Since Magid is on leave, López said the district is prohibited from discussing personnel matters due to privacy law.
According to López, all MCPS employees complete a pre-hire criminal background check and are also subject to the background check process outlined in state law, which mandates employees to disclose information about investigations of child sexual abuse and sexual misconduct.
She said MCPS follows Section 6-113 of the Education Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, which states that a county board school board can’t knowingly hire someone who’s been convicted of a sexual offense in the third or fourth degree, child sexual abuse or crimes of violence.
And drug testing is only required for employees who are required to have a commercial driver’s license. Those tests are pre-hire, random, for reasonable suspicion and following an accident, López said.
The case against Magid
County police did not name the man who died or where he lived but said an autopsy revealed he died from a fentanyl overdose. During an investigation, county detectives in the Special Investigations Division working with DEA special agents learned that the man had been in the county in the days leading up to his death, police said.
The man died on March 25 in a residence that shelters people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, according to Magid’s charging documents.
One witness told police that they last saw the victim at roughly 8 a.m. March 24 as the victim was heading to the bathroom, according to the charging documents. The next day at about 8:45 p.m., the witness said they saw a light on in the man’s bedroom, which they described as “odd.” The first witness contacted two other people who then went into the man’s room.
After seeing the victim lying on his bed, unresponsive and “cold,” the witness called 911, charging documents said. Upon arrival, first responders found the victim unresponsive in his bed and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
After the autopsy, DEA investigators interviewed members of the man’s family, who provided his cell phone, charging documents said. The phone contained text messages between the man and a contact with the name “SARAH” discussing the distribution and sale of pills such as Xanax.
Investigators were able to identify the contact “SARAH” as Magid through law enforcement database queries and information from the phone service her family used, according to charging documents.
While looking through the phone, investigators found text conversations between the victim and Magid dating back to May 2023 and leading up to the days before his death, charging documents said.
Many of the text message exchanges allegedly involved the man contacting Magid for Xanax and other unknown pills, negotiating prices, and discussing meeting up to purchase and transport drugs for Magid.
On March 24, the man and Magid had a text message exchange about the potential of drugs she sold to him being “fakes,” or counterfeit, charging documents stated. Later that day Magid allegedly texted the victim to notify him that she would be receiving more Xanax pills and asked if he wanted more. When he did not reply after days she texted him, “N**** are u dead.”
The following day, which was the day after the victim’s death, Magid allegedly sent another series of texts seemingly frustrated with the victim’s lack of response.
According to charging documents, on March 26 Magid texted the victim, “Guess u died.” Hours later she texted him again, referring to selling someone a counterfeit pill. Later that day, Magid texted the victim again: “Bro are u straight… Missing for like 4 days … U worrying me.”
Charging documents also contained text message exchanges between Magid and the man’s sister who confronted Magid after her brother’s death. The sister said her brother had died.
“I know who you are and I know what you did,” the sister wrote.
“Don’t blame ur brothers choice on me,” Magid texted back, according to charging documents.
After investigators identified Magid and determined she was a teacher, law enforcement conducted surveillance of her Burtonsville home on June 24, according to charging documents.
On July 28, law enforcement received an anonymous complaint saying Magid had left her classroom to “sell drugs to other people outside her work,” charging documents stated.
The complaint also said Magid “constantly” purchases drugs and said she had been buying large quantities of fentanyl and Xanax pills for over four years.
The tipster also said Magid sold fentanyl and Xanax to someone with the man’s name, and a family member of the victim reached out to the tipster following the man’s death, according to charging documents.