Sheriff: Glendale, Ariz. teacher arrested for smuggling heroin

CANADIAN COUNTY, Okla. (KSAZ) - A valley elementary school teacher was arrested in Oklahoma, accused of trying to transport drugs across the country.

It was the talk of the school at the Valley Vista High School campus in Surprise.

56-year-old Rafael Luna was supposed to be at the school teaching Spanish, instead he sits in an Oklahoma jail. Sheriff's deputies say he was transporting cocaine and heroin hidden under the spare tire in the trunk of this silver Mercedes car.

Deputies in Canadian County, outside Oklahoma City, said the car was weaving on the road they stopped it. Inside was Raffael Luna who lives in Glendale, and 50-year-old Jose Perez. From Phoenix

Deputies called in a canine unit with a dog named pickles. Pickles sniffed out the drugs in the car's trunk.

The Dysart School District says they are shocked by the arrest.

According to deputies, Luna told them he transported drugs as a summer job to make extra money and he had done it before.