Gun-Toting Teacher's Aide Indicted: DA

NEW CITY, NY -- A teacher's aide at Rockland BOCES who prosecutors say brought a gun and lots of ammunition to school has been indicted. She allegedly left it in her purse in a closet to which students and staff had access -- and a colleague knocked it over and saw the gun.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe announced Monday that Gillian Jeffords, 24, was indicted by a grand jury. The Warwick resident faces charges of

• One count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon on School Grounds, a class “E” Felony
• Three counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, class “A” Misdemeanors

Jeffords was employed as a Teacher Aide at the Rockland BOCES Jesse J. Kaplan School on Parrott Road in
West Nyack. On March 29, 2018, she went to work and placed her pocketbook on a bin in a
classroom closet.

Not long after, according to the charges, a fellow Kaplan employee accidentally knocked over the
defendants’ pocketbook and observed a pistol. Administrators at Rockland BOCES placed the campus into
lockdown, with the Clarkstown Police Department School Resource Officer responding to the scene.

A loaded 9mm pistol was recovered by the SRO, as well as four loaded magazines containing 28 rounds of ammunition, 14 of which were hollow point rounds, prosecutors allege.

The closet in which Jeffords allegedly left the pistol was accessed by the students on a daily basis. The bin upon which she placed her pocketbook was used to store student bathing suits. Three students were in the classroom at the time the defendant placed the purse in the closet.

Jeffords was subsequently terminated by Rockland BOCES.

Arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for Sept 25.

She faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison if convicted. This case is being prosecuted by Executive Assistant District Attorney Richard Kennison Moran.

PHOTO: Gillian Jeffords/ Clarkstown Police Department