(BLOOMFIELD) – A Bloomfield woman was sentenced to a year and 180 days in the Greene County Jail, with all but 10 days suspended, for wearing a loaded 9 mm handgun into Eastern-Greene High School on January 3.
According to court records, 41-year-old Kristi Lynn Vester pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a firearm on school property, a Level 6 felony.
She was given credit for two days already served in jail. She was ordered to report to the jail by 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 14, to serve her sentence. After her release, she will serve 1.5 years on supervised probation and if she successfully completes probation and does not commit any new criminal acts, she can later apply to have her conviction reduced to a Class A misdemeanor.
According to Indiana State Police Trooper Richard Klun, Vester said she forgot to take the gun off before entering the school on Thursday, Jan. 3. The 9mm handgun was in a holster under her clothing.
Police say although Vester had a concealed carry permit, it is against the law to take a firearm into a school without authorization.
Trooper Klun was working as the School Resource Officer for Eastern-Greene School Corporation that day. Around 1:50 p.m., he was requested to assist the staff in the high school office and when he arrived in the office, he was told Vester, who was in the counselor’s office, was believed to be in possession of a handgun.
Trooper Klun found Vester filling out paperwork and when she finished and dropped her arm to her side he noticed the gun holster. He then asked her to step into another office and speak to him.
Trooper Klun asked her about the firearm, then had her unzip her jacket and remove the weapon from the holster.
Vester told police she forgot she had the gun on and she did have a permit to carry the weapon.
Trooper Klun says the Ruger LC380 had six rounds in the magazine but none in the chamber
He then returned the firearm to Vester and filed a report with the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office. A judge issued a warrant for Vester’s arrest on Monday, Jan. 7.
In the probable cause affidavit, Trooper Klun stated this is not the first time Vester entered the school armed with a handgun. On November 29, 2018, at 3:45 p.m. a teacher saw Vester exiting her truck at the school and saw Vester retrieved a handgun from her truck, put it in a holster on her hip, and enter the school. Trooper Klun noted a school resource officer was not present at that time.
