Jessica Jo Peterson

Woman previously found with a pistol

School on lockdown after stranger enters

By JARED STRONG

j.strong@carrollspaper.com

Greene County Middle School was on high alert and restricted the movement of students for about two hours Monday morning until law enforcement officers arrested an Ogden woman who wandered through the building and stole items from a locker room and a vehicle in the parking lot.

Jessica Jo Peterson, 36, went into the building at 203 W. Harrison St. about 8:20 a.m. and took clothing, toiletry items and four shoes from a locker room, according to court records. Outside the building she allegedly stole a key, flashlight, tire pressure gauge and prescription medication from a teacher’s vehicle.

She was gone by the time officers responded to a call for help.

School officials later reported that Peterson was inside the district’s nearby administration building, where she was arrested about 10:55 a.m.

“She advised the officers that she was homeless as an excuse for her actions in the school buildings,” according to a police report. “Officers later spoke with officials in Ogden, who advised she is not homeless.”

Peterson is charged with misdemeanor burglary, unlawful possession of prescription drugs and theft, the most serious of which is punishable by up to two years in prison.

She has another pending charge for carrying weapons in Story County in September, court records show. Peterson was allegedly involved in a car crash about 11 p.m. Sept. 5 near the intersection of Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 30 and walked away. An officer who saw her walking found a pistol tucked into her waistband, court records show.

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