RESERVE, La (WGNO) – Curtis Tsuruda, a Riverside Academy teacher arrested this week for strangling a student, was also arrested for distributing steroids at Donaldsonville High School in 2014.
Tsuruda was arrested on February 20, 2017, for placing both of his hands around the neck of a 14-year-old student who attends Riverside Academy during an argument.
On April 1, 2014, Tsuruda, who was then a physical education teacher and strength and conditioning coach at Donaldsonville High School, was arrested for giving steroids to a 16-year-old DHS student.
In that case, Tsuruda led the student to believe that the steroid pills were actually amino acid and protein pills that would boost his athletic performance.
In the recent strangling incident, Tsuruda was arrested at his residence in the 100 block of Derek Lane in LaPlace and booked with cruelty to juveniles with force/violence.
He was released from custody February 21, 2017 on a $3,000 bond, according to St. John the Baptist Sheriff Mike Tregre.
In 2014, Tsuruda was arrested at the same address on charges of distribution of schedule III CDS, distribution to a student, violation of CDS law school zone, and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
It is unclear at this time how Tsuruda continued to work at high schools after his initial arrest.
