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School Health Worker, Husband Face Drug Charges

Keila and Steven Casellas.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 19, 2008

Updated: 02/19/2008 03:45 pm

TAMPA - Some people tidy up before leaving the house. Not Keila and Steven Casellas.

The couple called Tampa police to report a burglary and left in plain sight four baggies of cocaine and one baggie of marijuana, criminal report affidavits state.

Officers on Monday charged Keila Benitez Casellas, 40, who works as a health assistant at Crestwood Elementary, and her husband, Steven, 41, with felony possession of cocaine with intent to sell, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

The couple was free Tuesday on $8,500 bail each, jail records show.

The Hillsborough County School District suspended Casellas with pay pending further action from the school board, spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.

Casellas has worked for the school district since December 1998, first as a teacher's aide, Cobbe said. She has worked at Crestwood since June 2005, earning $12 an hour, Cobbe said.

There is no prior discipline in her school district file, Cobbe said.

Reached at home, Keila Casellas declined to speak to a reporter.

Steven Casellas does not list an employer in jail records. Public records show he was convicted of felony cocaine trafficking and felony delivery of cocaine in March 2000. He served about three years and six months in a Tarpon Springs work-release facility, records show.

Affidavits state the couple called police about 10:20 p.m. Monday to report a burglary in progress at 3023 River Grove Drive, near Robles Cemetery.

Retired Sgt. Jim Contento, a police spokesman, said officers found no one at home when they arrived but noticed the house's rear window was open.

He did not have information about who called in the burglary, although the affidavits state the couple did.

As officers searched the house for burglars, they saw in the bedroom 3.8 grams of marijuana and 5.5 grams of cocaine in plastic bags, as well as empty plastic bags, scales and $4,769 in cash, Contento said.

There were signs someone had rummaged through the drawers, but the couple, who arrived shortly after the officers, noticed no valuables missing, Contento said.

The couple had an interior video-security system that was not working at the time, Contento said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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