A former Pembroke Academy dean facing felony drug charges has reached a plea deal with prosecutors nearly a year after withdrawing from a prior agreement.
Rekha Luther, 38, of Manchester is scheduled to appear March 12 in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord for a plea and sentencing hearing. The details of the latest deal have not been publicly disclosed.
Luther, who previously served as dean of students at Pembroke Academy, is accused of having fentanyl and testosterone propionate in her possession at the high school in early 2016. Police arrested her at the school Feb. 17, but officials initially kept quiet about the incident until news broke two months later.
A plea and sentencing hearing was previously scheduled for April 2017, but canceled after Luther indicated she wanted to move forward with a trial instead. However, that trial never happened.
Luther was taken into custody this past summer after failing to appear for jury selection. She was incarcerated for a short time before enrolling in a drug treatment program. Upon her entry into that program, she was released from jail on personal recognizance with the condition that she wear an electronic monitoring device.
In recent months, attorneys from both sides and Luther have met privately with a judge in an effort to settle the case. A settlement conference was held in December; however, records of those proceedings are confidential.
Luther faces two class B felonies – each of which could carry up to seven years in prison – and two “enhanced felonies” for the charges of possession of a narcotic in a “safe school zone.” As an enhanced felony, possession of a controlled drug in a school zone allows an extended term of imprisonment of 10 to 30 years, according to state law.