A former Charlotte Mecklenberg Public Schools ROTC instructor is facing sexual-related criminal charges, according to police arrest records.

DRAYTON LAMONTE GILYARD

Drayton Lamonte Gilyard, age 47, was arrested on Feb. 21 and has been charged felony indecent liberties with a child and misdemeanor sexual battery.

Sexual battery is a Class A1 misdemeanor that can have a sentence of one to 150 days of active, intermediate, or community punishment and a possible discretionary fine. Indecent liberties with a child is a Class F felony carrying a sentence of 10 to 43 months in prison.

Gilyard was issued $12,000 in unsecured bonds which he apparently posted and was released from custody.

It is not yet clear whether or not the victim was a student in the district.

WBT reporter Brett Jensen first reported Gilyard’s arrest and in an update cites Gilyard resigned as of Feb. 18.

A CMS communications official confirmed that “Mr. Dalton was ROTC instructor at Hopewell. He has not been on the campus since 1/19/22 and submitted his resignation 2/18/22.“

CMS offered no other statement on the matter.

Gilyard, who served in various positions in the U.S. Army from 1994 to 2017, has an active North Carolina teaching license:

Current Date: 02/24/2022 07:55 AM
License Number: 1235865
Name: Gilyard, Drayton Lamonte
License Type: Educator
License Status: Current
Expiration Date: 06/30/2022
Effective Date: 07/08/2019
License Area(s): Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC)

The former ROTC instructor has a Twitter handle that is not very active. Last year in February, he advocated for COVID vaccinations “prior to forcing us back to work.”

https://twitter.com/DraytonGilyard/status/1359483145238757377

According to his LinkedIn profile, he is the co-owner of Apex Fun Run located in Columbia, South Carolina.

The description of Apex Fun Run states it offers “2-week, Leadership-/Fitness-focused, hassle-free, Fun Runs for Elementary Schools, Color Battles for Middle School, Customizable fundraisers for teams, groups, companies, churches, and PBIS based Leadership Development to Private and Title 1 Schools.”