Doody said Hoffler-Riddick had an association with a man named John McBride, who is also charged with laundering money for Aaron Burton, suspected to be one of the key players in the drug ring.
Law enforcement officials said McBride and Hoffler-Riddick met in 1993. McBride became Burton's financial adviser in 1997 and enlisted Hoffler-Riddick to take out loans for real estate and a vehicle for Burton, authorities said. The loans were repaid with proceeds from the drug trade, the indictment says. Some of the money was in an account in the Virginia Educators Credit Union.
Pamela Hoffler-Riddick came to Prince George's schools in 2003.
(File Photo)
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Hoffler-Riddick's arrest shocked colleagues yesterday, who called her smart, talented and passionate about closing the achievement gap between rich and poor.
"I am floored," said Reginald Felton, who served on Montgomery's Board of Education when Hoffler-Riddick was hired. "It does not sound like the person we knew."
Hoffler-Riddick was born in 1961 in the South Bronx, the eldest of three daughters to a single mother who sometimes had to rely on public assistance and taught her daughters that education would be their only salvation. Hoffler-Riddick, who is divorced, has her own two daughters now.
She received a bachelor's degree in biology from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, a master's of science in education from Old Dominion University and a doctorate from Virginia Tech.
She started teaching in Norfolk public schools in 1984 and later became one of the youngest principals at one of the most diverse and lowest-scoring schools. Within a few years, after she required uniforms for students and a dress code for teachers, students at the school posted the largest gains of any school in the city. She once declared that she wanted to be a superintendent by age 40.
She eventually landed in Montgomery, where her hard-charging demeanor led, in part, to her short stay. "She was a little rough around the edges. In Montgomery County, you have to use more diplomacy than an in-your-face style," said a former colleague who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the charges in the indictment.
At times, she ruffled feathers in Prince George's as well, with parents calling her bright but not always responsive to their needs.
She said she "was committed to extensive parent and community involvement, but that ended up being more a planning document than a reality," said Jacob Andoh, a Lake Arbor parent.
Staff writer Allan Lengel contributed to this report.
