Ex-student admits to misdemeanor for taking gun to school

A former student who had a loaded handgun in his locker at Linden-McKinley STEM Academy last year pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor offense and was sentenced to the three days he had already spent in jail.

Tylon J. Preston II, 19, pleaded guilty to attempted illegal conveyance of a weapon onto school property for the April 10 incident.

He originally was charged with felony counts of carrying a concealed weapon and conveyance of a gun onto school property. He pleaded to a lesser conveyance charge, and the concealedcarry charge was dismissed.

The plea agreement resulted from an apparent failure to advise Preston of his rights when he was interviewed at the South Linden school on the day of his arrest and concerns about the validity of the search that led to discovery of the gun.

Defense attorney Jeremy Wright had filed motions challenging both the search and his client’s statements at school, which had yet to be ruled on by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Holbrook.

“I was going to be forced to maybe suppress some evidence on this thing,” Holbrook told Preston. “The case would have went away. But I think this is probably the better solution.”

Assistant Prosecutor Michael McLean said a school safety and security officer, employed by the school district, used a master key to search Preston’s locker after seeing several days of suspicious activity in the area. She found the gun, a HiPoint 9mm, in a book bag in the locker. Preston made some admissions about the gun when taken into custody at the school, but it wasn’t clear that he had been read his Miranda rights, McLean said.

He said Preston got the gun from a friend for protection after he was robbed, but decided he didn’t want it and was offering it for sale

Preston was considered “a good kid” at the school, had no record, and had no plans to harm anyone with the gun, Wright said.

Preston, who was expelled after the incident, is in barber school, will get a high-school diploma this summer and has had no trouble since his arrest, he said.

“I didn’t mean to do anything wrong,” Preston told the judge. “I wasn’t really thinking.”