GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The man who broke into Irving Park Elementary School earlier this year was sentenced on Thursday to 42 months in prison after being convicted of a gun-related offense, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Jonathan Cameron Coley, 26, pleaded guilty on Sept. 24 to possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
Background
According to Greensboro police, Coley was identified on surveillance footage after a break-in at Irving Park Elementary School early in the morning on April 13.
Police say patrol officers were called just after 6 a.m. to the school after a burglary alarm. An officer spoke with the principal at the scene, who said she would look at surveillance footage. The officer checked the school before he left.
A few days later, the principal called the officer back and said that a man, later identified as Coley, was seen inside the school holding a long gun. The officer reviewed the footage at the school and contacted a detective with an image of the suspect.
Coley and his vehicle were identified within hours of the footage being reviewed, and a warrant was issued for his arrest for felony possessing a gun on educational property and misdemeanor breaking and entering.
Officers took Coley into custody at a traffic stop on April 16, the day he was identified. Drugs were reportedly found in the vehicle along with multiple firearms and ammunition, according to the indictment. Coley allegedly told the arresting officer that he used meth, sometimes two or three times a day.
According to the indictment, Coley told the arresting officers he sometimes heard voices, and he went into the school because he thought he heard screaming and gunfire and went inside asking “Is everybody ok?” While he initially told authorities the gun seen in the footage was an airsoft gun, eventually he admitted it was not.
When he appeared in court, he was banned from any school property, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation before being released and was required to “relinquish any and all firearms and ammunition when asked to do so by any law enforcement officer.”
He was federally indicted for the counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person who is an unlawful user of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm on school grounds on May 3.
He was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
