A D.C. man has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for burglarizing an elementary school in 2020 and then spitting on officers who arrested him, telling them he hoped their families got COVID.
Jason Stroman, 37, was convicted in August of second-degree burglary and assault on a police officer.
A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. said Stroman broke into C.W. Harris Elementary School, in the Marshall Heights area of Southeast D.C., early in the morning of July 26, 2020, disguising himself as a construction worker.
Alerted by a livestream camera, a D.C. Public Schools police officer and D.C. police responded to the school and found Stroman in the library stacking a black safe, three laptops and other school supplies in a large bin near an exit, according to the news release and the original charging documents in the case.
Stroman fled but was later caught by officers, according to prosecutors, and became “very irate” when placed in the back of a cruiser.
“After being placed under arrest, he spat directly onto MPD officers throughout the course of a 20-minute transport ride,” the news release stated. Stroman claimed he had COVID-19 and said, “I’m going to spit on you so you can take it home to your families and they can die,” according to the account in charging documents.
Stroman was sentenced Dec. 16.
