MONTGOMERY COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A Montgomery County teacher who was suspended after a loaded gun and ammunition was found in his desk and then under investigation for misconduct has been indicted.

According to the SBI, they were contacted by the Troy Police Department on Jan. 28. 2022 to investigate allegations of statutory rape involving Jason Matthew Hensley, who was at the time a teacher with Montgomery County Schools.

Warrants obtained by FOX8 on Wednesday show that a grand jury indicted Hensley on four counts of felony statutory sex offense and four counts of felony sexual exploitation of a minor on Monday and he was arrested that same day.

The warrants state that Hensley “engaged in a sex act” with an unnamed 14-year-old victim. The four separate indictments show offense dates between September 2019 and January 2020.

Jason Hensley
Jason Hensley

The four counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor occurred between the beginning of November 2021 and the end of December 2021. The warrant describes that Hensley produced “material that contains a visual representation” of multiple sexual activities, with two unnamed victims listed.

Hensley was a reserve officer with Mount Gilead Police Department after stepping down to reserve status to take his teaching job. He was terminated from the police department in February 2022.

The Montgomery County Schools System confirmed that Hensley resigned “in lieu of termination” on Feb. 11, 2022, a week after he was initially suspended.

Troy Police Department’s request for an investigation predated a February 2022 search of Hensley’s office where guns, ammunition and knives were confiscated. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said that the Montgomery County Schools superintendent requested the search due to reports of a teacher with a gun in his classroom.

The weapon found on campus was not a police-issued service weapon, and the school was not located in his sworn jurisdiction according to the Mount Gilead Police Department.

Despite that, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department stated that the presence of the gun in a classroom “did not meet the elements of being illegal” even if it was in violation of Montgomery County School District policies.

“The school system is devastated by this serious breach of trust,” the school district wrote, declining to comment specifically on the matter at the time.

He was given a $1 million bond.