A teacher at Monarch High School in Louisville and member of Boulder’s Ars Nova Singers is facing drug-distribution charges after police allege he provided marijuana edibles to students last year.
Louisville police arrested Brian Edward du Fresne, 49, in Longmont on Tuesday on suspicion of two counts of unlawful distribution of marijuana or marijuana concentrate.
Du Fresne, who is free on bond, could not be reached for comment Wednesday after police announced his arrest.
Monarch High officials said Wednesday that du Fresne has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Du Fresne is the director of vocal music and music theater, and a language arts instructor, at Monarch High School, where he began teaching in the late 1990s, according to his school biography.
Since 1994, he also has sung with the internationally-acclaimed Boulder-based Ars Nova Singers choral group, and has been bass section leader for that ensemble since he started with the group.
He also is a professional organist and currently serves as principal organist at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, according to Monarch High’s website.
According to an arrest affidavit, du Fresne is accused of giving students marijuana edibles on several occasions last year while driving them to and from lunch off campus.
One of the students involved admitted to smoking marijuana with du Fresne last semester as well, according to the affidavit.
A student interviewed by police told investigators she thought du Fresne provided marijuana to students “because he wanted to be friends with the students instead of a teacher,” according to the affidavit.
In the affidavit, police note that du Fresne was the subject of a Louisville police investigation in 2006 for an unrelated allegation that ultimately was determined to be unfounded.
Following that investigation, police wrote, du Fresne was issued a letter of reprimand warning him about behavior around students, including the instruction that he never place himself in a position of “transporting a student alone in a car.”
Du Fresne petitioned and had the letter of reprimand removed from his personnel file, according to investigators. But Louisville police included language from it in their arrest-warrant affidavit, specifically noting that du Fresne is now alleged to have “transported students in his car, to a restaurant, in violation of a previous reprimand.”
Monarch Principal Jerry Lee Anderson sent a letter to parents Wednesday informing them of du Fresne’s arrest.
“I realize that a situation like this is difficult for everyone involved,” Anderson wrote. “There is nothing else that I can share with you regarding this matter because it is a confidential personnel issue. What I do want to share is that I will continue to place first the welfare and safety of every student at Monarch High School. I am grateful that MHS is a very caring community, and I trust that we will all be patient and supportive of one another while this investigation is underway.”
This story was first published on coloradohometownweekly.com
