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.”

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.”