Administrators at Thermal's Toro Canyon Middle School told the Riverside County Sheriff's Department that the 47-year-old teacher was apparently intoxicated on campus.
Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Tapp says Neff had taken prescription drugs and alcohol and an alcoholic beverage was found inside a container.
Coachella Valley school district Superintendent Ricardo Medina says there was never a threat to Neff's seventh-grade students. Neff has been placed on leave.
