The City College staff member charged with illegally selling a gun to a city school police officer said he needed the money to celebrate his son's birthday, according to charging documents filed in Baltimore City District Court.
Tyree Miles, 33, was arrested Oct. 14 after completing the $400 sale of a Russian SKS assault rifle to a school police officer on the City College campus, the documents said. He served as a student support specialist at the prestigious high school, where school officials said he had been hired "to make sure kids weren't in the hallway."
Miles did not return calls for comment Monday. He was released from jail on $125,000 property bond Friday and is due to appear back in court Nov. 16.
Court documents show that after Miles was arrested, he told the officers, "Man, I just want some money for my son's birthday."
Miles was charged with having a dangerous weapon on school property and the illegal sale of a regulated firearm. Both are misdemeanors, city state's attorney officials said, and carry a penalty of three and five years in jail, respectively.
City school police and Baltimore police arranged the sale on the school's campus about a week after Miles first approached the officer about selling the weapon for $400, court documents said. On Oct. 14, a day when students were not in school, Miles met with the officer.
The officer paid Miles $500, and Miles started to leave the campus, the documents said. He returned to give the $100 overpayment back to the officer and was arrested.
Miles was hired at City College in August of last year, said Michael Sarbanes, spokesman for city schools. He said that Miles had passed a criminal check before he was hired. Court records show that Miles was arrested on drug and distribution charges in 2008, but he was not convicted. Sarbanes said because there was no conviction, his previous charges did not preclude him from being hired.
Miles is the second temporary City College employee in three months to be charged with a crime.
In July, Ryan M. Coleman, a 34-year-old City College alumnus who was hired as a contractor to monitor the school's hallways and serve as a "dean of discipline" last year, was arrested on sexual abuse and assault charges involving a 17-year-old student. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to face a jury in December.
Sarbanes said the school system continually evaluates its temporary workers to make sure their employment is necessary.