< Back to front page Text size – +

Police: Substitute staged poisoning in New Bedford high school

E-mail|Link|Comments () April 30, 2010 03:30 PM

By Travis Andersen, Globe Correspondent and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

NEW BEDFORD – A substitute teacher with a broken heart staged his own poisoning at a New Bedford high school on Wednesday, police said today.

"I think he was in some pain,'' Police Chief Ronald E. Teachman told reporters this afternoon.

He said 27-year-old Chad Wunschel will be charged with one count of filing a false report of a crime.

Wunschel is both a graduate and a substitute at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School.

On Wednesday, while in the school's expansive shop room, he poured cleaning liquid into his coffee, spat it out and then was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital to be examined for having been possibly poisoned.

Three staffers and 33 students were in the room at the time and all of them were detained until they were questioned by police, Teachman has said.

Last night, Wunschel came to the headquarters and confessed the poisoning was a hoax. Teachman said he was spurred to act by a failed relationship with a woman.

Police would not identify the woman, but said she was not a staffer at the school.

Michael Shea, the superintendent of the school who praised Wunschel earlier this week, said he was deeply disappointed. He said Wunschel no longer has any affiliation with the 2,100-student school.

"I feel bad for the individual for taking a bad decision,'' Shea.