Jermaine McCleod, the man arrested Wednesday after a car chase in New Rochelle involving police officers from New Rochelle and Pelham was previously arrested for attempted robbery at New Rochelle High School.
UPDATE 12/17: According to information provided by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office McCleod was sentenced to 18 months to three years in state prison on a guilty plea to attempted robbery 3 – E Felony after he was arrested at the high school. Following sentencing, he was remanded to Greene Correctional Facility in Coxsackie, NY according to New York State Corrections records.
McCleod was released to parole in August, 2012. McCleod spent time in the Westchester County Jail following his arrest in 2011, that time was credited to his sentence.
McCleod and Rashad Simpson, another student at the high school, were arrested in February 2011 after they confronted a student in the hallways, indicated they had a weapon and demanded the student’s wallet. When the student refused and attempted to walk away, Simpson moved to block the way of the student, preventing him from leaving. The incident ended when a school district employee happened upon the scene.
A day earlier McCleod had been caught stealing money from a cash register at the school cafeteria. McCleod and Simpson are well-known to police and prosecutors.
The police were called to the school after the victim’s father complained to high school security officials. The father told Talk of the Sound he was shown a high resolution video of the two suspects accosting this son in the hallway. Security officials, Security Officer Rolf Koehler and New Rochelle Security Director Bruce Daniele, immediately identified McCleod and Simpson.
Several weeks later during Grand Jury proceedings in White Plains, Daniele failed to produce the high resolution video shown to the victim’s parent, according to the parent. He instead provided prosecutors from the District Attorney’s office a degraded video which made identification difficult. Daniele failed to properly identify the two suspects during his testimony and asserted that Rolf Kohler intervened in the attempted robbery not Werner Graefe, the school locksmith, who the parent observed on the high resolution video from the school’s security cameras.
McCleod and Simpson were indicated for attempted armed robbery in March 2011. They plead guilty in December 2011. Simpson plead guilty to Attempted Grand Larceny in the 4th degree and was sentenced in January 2012. McCleod plead guilty to Attempted Robbery in the 3rd degree and was sentenced in February 2012.
On Wednesday, McCleod was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, and misdemeanors including resisting arrest, reckless driving, obstruction of governmental administration and unlawfully fleeing a police officer.
Grand Jury Indicts Two Students for Attempted Armed Robbery at New Rochelle High School
Westchester District Attorney Secures Guilty Pleas in New Rochelle High School Armed Robbery Case
