Tag: Man impersonating student

A 21-year-old man caught “impersonating a student” at a high school has been linked to multiple sex offenses involving minors, according to investigators in North Carolina.

Matthew Edward Jones, 21, was arrested Thursday, Jan. 15, on the campus of Red Springs High School, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The school is about a 90-mile drive southwest from downtown Raleigh.

“Staff members at Red Springs High School observed an unknown male on campus. School staff were able to identify that the individual was not a student and immediately notified the School Resource Officer,” the sheriff’s office said in a Jan. 16 news release.

“Investigators learned of possible sexual assaults that occurred off campus during the initial investigation to identify the individual.”

Those incidents involved a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old, according to court documents. Evidence in those cases includes videos and messages exchanged on cell phones and computers, investigators say.

Investigators did not say if the victims are students at the school.

Jones has been charged with:

• Statutory sexual offense with a child under the age of 15
• Indecent liberties with a child
• Solicitation of a child by computer
• First-degree sexual exploitation of a minor
• Third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor

Jones lives in St. Pauls, about a 20-mile drive east from the campus, officials said.

Red Springs High School has a student population of about 850 students in grades 9 through 12.