DA: Hudson Valley Teacher's Aide Brought Loaded Gun to School

A now-former Hudson Valley teacher’s aide is accused of bringing a loaded gun and rounds of ammunition to school.

On Monday in Rockland County Court, Gillian Jeffords, 24, of Warwick was indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds, a felony and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanors.

On March 29, while employed as a teacher's aide at the Rockland BOCES Jesse J. Kaplan School on Parrott Road in West Nyack, Jeffords reported to work and placed her pocketbook on a bin in a classroom closet.

Not long after, a co-worker accidentally knocked over the pocketbook and noticed a gun, later identified as a loaded black Ruger 9mm handgun, police say.

The Clarkstown Police Department school resource officer went to the classroom and found the gun as well as four loaded magazines containing 28 rounds of ammunition, 14 of which were hollow point rounds, according to the Rockland County District Attorney's Office.

The closet that Jeffords allegedly left the pistol in was accessed by the students on a daily basis.

The bin where the gun was placed was used to store student bathing suits. Three students were in the classroom at the time the Jeffords placed the purse in the closet, officials say.

Jeffords was later terminated by Rockland BOCES. If convicted she faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted.

DA: Hudson Valley Teacher’s Aide Brought Loaded Gun to School