School principal nabbed in hotel bust

The principal of the private Branson School in Ross was arrested Friday in a Sacramento hotel where Sacramento sheriff’s deputies found drugs and a woman passed out in bed.

Thomas Woodrow “Woody” Price, 54, of Ross, was arrested at the Hyatt Place Hotel in Rancho Cordova on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine for sale and possession of cocaine.

He posted bail on Saturday and was released from the Sacramento County Jail, sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Ramos said. Ramos said the woman, identified as Brittney Hall, 21, of Elk Grove, also was arrested on the drug charges.

The sheriff’s office received a call shortly after noon from a man who said he was Hall’s boyfriend, Ramos said. The man asked deputies to check on his girlfriend who was at a hotel with an older man who was giving her drugs, Ramos said.

Price answered the hotel room door and deputies saw a woman unresponsive in bed, Ramos said. Price said the woman was all right but she did not respond until she was physically awakened.

Ramos said the quantity of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and prescription drugs in the room indicated they were being sold. Price turned 54 the night before, and he told the deputies he and Hall had a “casual relationship,” Ramos said. “He alluded to her as his girlfriend,” Ramos said.

Hall did not need medical attention and she and Price were booked in the Sacramento County Jail, Ramos said.

Officials at the Branson School in Ross did not return calls for comment late this afternoon. The independent, coed, college prep school has 320 students in grades 9-12.