93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
A suspicious man spotted outside Gentry Middle School Tuesday afternoon has turned himself in to police.
Kelvin Joe, 53, was cited for first degree trespassing and driving while revoked. He’s now banned from Columbia Public Schools property.
Interim police chief Geoff Jones says on Wake Up Columbia that Joe has apparently been acting strangely, but mostly not criminally, toward children and adults in town lately. CPD said last night that Joe did not try to lure the Gentry student into his car. He just offered the child money, and Joe left it on the parking lot when the child refused.
“He hasn’t acted in a way that’s going to harm kids,” Jones said. “If I believed for a second that he was targeting kids, this would have had a different outcome.”
Joe also apparently went to College Park Christian Preschool on Monday.
“What I won’t do is arrest somebody on charges because there’s this large public outcry,” Jones said.
The full interview with CPD interim chief Jones:
(This story was last updated at 5:59 a.m Thursday.)
