Langston Carter
Introduction
Langston Fremont Carter, 30, is a former teacher at LEAD Academy, a charter school in Montgomery, Alabama, who was fired after being accused of selling oxycodone pills to a student in his classroom and later indicted by a federal grand jury on drug trafficking and firearms charges. The four-count federal indictment unsealed in November 2026 followed his October arrest on the school campus and state felony charges.
Background Information
LEAD Academy is a charter school located on Eastern Boulevard in Montgomery. Carter worked there as a teacher, and the case against him began on October 22, 2026, when Montgomery police were called to the campus after a student was found in possession of oxycodone pills during the school day.
According to court documents, the student told officers he got the pills from Carter, his teacher, paying $10 for them after Carter allegedly offered to sell to him on more than one occasion. The student was told to send the money by Cash App to Carter’s girlfriend; because he had no Cash App account, another student sent it for him. Investigators later verified the transaction, and the student said he picked the pills up from Carter in the classroom.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Fired; indicted on federal drug and firearms charges. Carter faces a four-count federal indictment plus state felonies after police said he sold pills to a student and kept a loaded gun and narcotics in his vehicle on campus.
After hearing the student’s account, police placed the school on lockdown that afternoon at the department’s direction “to ensure integrity of the investigation,” and a K-9 officer conducted an open-air sniff of Carter’s vehicle in the school parking lot. The dog indicated the scent of narcotics, and a probable-cause search of the car turned up a sling-style bag containing, per court filings: 6.9 grams of marijuana, a digital scale, empty plastic bags, 18.9 grams of mushroom-infused gummies, nineteen 5 mg oxycodone hydrochloride pills, 325 mg acetaminophen pills, and a loaded Beretta 9mm handgun. Carter was taken into custody at the school.
LEAD Academy confirmed in a statement the following morning that the teacher had been fired. Court records also detail a text exchange between Carter and his girlfriend in which they discussed the possibility of law enforcement searching his vehicle and what investigators might uncover. He was booked into the Montgomery County Detention Facility on $300,000 bond, facing state felony charges including possession of a firearm on school property, two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, and first-degree possession of marijuana.
The federal case followed quickly. A criminal complaint was filed October 27, and a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned a four-count indictment: possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and possession of a firearm in a school zone. U.S. Attorney Thomas Govan announced the unsealed indictment at a press conference with the ATF, Montgomery police and the county district attorney’s office. If convicted on the drug counts, Carter faces up to 20 years in federal prison; the firearm-in-furtherance count carries a mandatory minimum five years that must run consecutively to any other sentence.
Public Reaction and Consequences
Federal prosecutors framed the case around the violation of the school itself. “Our schools should be and must be safe places for our children and youth to learn, to grow and achieve in safety and without fear of illegal drug activity and the illegal possession of firearms being brought to campus,” Govan said. “When that sacred trust is violated, this office, along with our law enforcement partners, will move swiftly.” ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tyra Cunningham added that “no individual is above the law, regardless of title, position, occupation, or affiliation.” Prosecutors said they would ask a judge to hold Carter without bond pending trial.
The consequences so far: termination from the school, a $300,000 bond in the state case, and a federal indictment whose firearms counts expose him to a mandatory prison term. All charges — state and federal — remain unadjudicated.
Current Status
Carter is facing parallel state and federal prosecutions. On the federal side, he was scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on the Tuesday after the indictment was announced, with prosecutors seeking pretrial detention. On the state side, he remains charged with distribution, marijuana possession and school-zone firearms counts. He has not gone to trial, and no plea has been reported.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A teaching career ended the same week the accusations surfaced, with the school confirming his firing in a public statement and the federal indictment converting a campus discipline case into a potential decades-long prison exposure. The mandatory-minimum firearm count means that even a best-case resolution on the drug charges would still carry consecutive prison time. His case now sits in two court systems at once, and the student’s classroom account — a $10 sale, a Cash App to a girlfriend, pills handed over at a teacher’s desk — is the documented backbone of both.