Police in Lake County arrest on-duty Laketran bus driver for allegedly selling drugs

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio - A Laketran bus driver has been arrested, accused of selling Oxycontin and Percocet to an undercover officer.

Lake County Narcotics Agents charged 54-year-old Karen Kuhn with the crimes last week.

According to police, Kuhn sold the pills to an undercover officer while on-duty and inside the bus.

Kuhn was arraigned in Willoughby Municipal Court on Monday morning on a drug trafficking charge. Bond was set at $10,000.

"She has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the investigation," said Julie Schick, Laketran's director of marketing.

Kuhn has been an employee with Laketran for 13 years.

Laketran issued the following statement at 2:20 p.m.:

Laketran was informed by the Lake County Narcotics Agency (LCNA) that the LCNA had arrested a bus driver in connection with its investigation of illegal sale of prescription drugs. Laketran had no previous knowledge of any alleged illegal activity until the notification by LCNA. 

Laketran has a long standing history of working very closely with law enforcement agencies and is fully cooperating with LCNA in the investigation of this matter. 

All Laketran employees are required to sign a statement acknowledging that it is unlawful to manufacture, distribute, dispense, possess, or use a controlled substance or misuse alcohol.  When provided with evidence of illegal activity on its buses or its property, Laketran takes swift and significant steps to investigate, correct, and disciple those involved, as appropriate. The driver has been placed on unpaid leave pending the investigation.

We hold our drivers to a very high standard of professionalism and customer service. This incident is not indicative of our drivers or employees and is an isolated incident.

Safety of our customers is our main concern. All of Laketran’s local, in-county route and commuter express buses are equipped with video and audio surveillance cameras and Laketran has been equipping Dial-a-Ride buses as they being replaced.

There were no passengers on-board at the time of the incident.