A Charleston man admitted Wednesday that, in March, he took a West Virginia State University police officer's gun during a scuffle and fired it toward a ditch.
Maurice Anthony Jarrett, 40, pleaded guilty to wanton endangerment, battery of an officer, burglarizing the school and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Police at the university have said they believe Jarrett is responsible for a string of break-ins at the school.
"All the break-ins at state have stopped since the defendant was arrested, I'm told," assistant Kanawha County prosecutor Fred Giggenbach said Wednesday.
Jarrett faces up to 21 years in prison when Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom sentences him.
On March 12, WVSU Police Cpl. Ronald Mercer reported seeing Jarrett pushing a silver dolly on the campus of the university at about 2 a.m., according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.
Jarrett allegedly told Mercer his name was Tyrone Thompson. Mercer cited him for trespassing, then released him.
An hour later, though, Mercer saw a classroom door open and a widescreen TV taken down. He said at about this time he also "discovered that Tyrone Thompson was the suspect involved in a string of past B&Es, grand larcenies, and destruction of property incidents spanning over the past two to three years," the complaint says.
Mercer began searching the campus and found Jarrett walking from the back side of Sullivan Hall along the campus plaza. He ordered Jarrett to stop, but Jarrett ran, the complaint says.
Mercer chased him around the Wilson Student Union and east toward Washington Avenue, then the two began to struggle.
Mercer punched Jarrett and tried to handcuff him but he was overpowered, the complaint says. While Mercer was on his back, Jarrett allegedly took his gun and fired at a ditch.
Jarrett then backed away, ordering Mercer to walk away and drop his radio and phone, the complaint says. The officer then moved across the Sullivan Hall parking lot, and called for help.
Jarrett was apprehended and police discovered that the Tyrone Thompson name was fake.
Jarrett faces one to 10 years in prison for burglary, one to five for wanton endangerment, up to five years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and up to a year for battery on an officer, Giggenbach said.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.