Police: Sanford man jumps fence at Goldsboro Elementary School

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Sanford man with a lengthy criminal record was quickly arrested after he was caught on the campus of Goldboro Elementary School.

Police said Leonard Jones, 31, is labeled a high-risk sex offender through the Florida Department of Corrections, but he’s never been arrested or convicted of a sex crime.

Police said Jones jumped the fence at the school around 11:30 a.m. last Thursday while children were in gym class. A staff member saw Jones and notified a school resource officer. However, it’s not clear why Jones was on the campus.

When the school resource officer tried to confront Jones, he tried to get into a building, but it was locked, police said.

Michael Lawrence, a spokesperson with the Seminole County Public Schools, told Channel 9's Jeff Levkulich that the school was never under lockdown since Jones was apprehended in minutes, thanks to quick-thinking staff members who spotted Jones and radioed the school resource officer.

Lawrence said the classroom doors are already locked per district policy.

Jones spent a year and a half in prison in 2013 for obstructing a criminal investigation.

Eyewitness News asked the Department of Corrections why Jones is labeled as a sex offender, but doesn’t have to register, but Eyewitness News has not heard back from officials.

Jones has a long history of drug arrests dating back to 2004.

Jones is in the Seminole County Jail.

The Florida Department of Corrections told Channel 9 this was an internal identifier and the reasons why an offender is identified as a "high risk sex offender" can be found in Florida Statute 948.061.

Cox Media Group