GRATIS — A police officer who entered multiple Cincinnati area schools has submitted his resignation.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Gratis Mayor Kevin Johnson confirmed Officer Jeff Baylor submitted his letter of resignation on Monday.
That letter will be acted on at the village council’s next meeting on Thursday.
Baylor was placed on administrative leave along with Chief Tonina Lamanna.
Gratis Police Department Officer Matt Jones has been named Interim Police Department Manager.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Local man killed in two-vehicle crash in northern Ohio
- ‘Running saved my life;’ Local school district cuts plan that would have increased pay-to-play fees
- Alan Osmond, oldest member of The Osmonds family singers, dies
Surveillance video stills the I-Team’s gotten a hold of show Lamanna and Baylor, inside three Cincinnati Public Schools last Wednesday.
CPS said they claimed to be with ICE for what the district said the pair of officers claimed was a welfare check.
“I did not insinuate that I have a federal license or that I am there on behalf of any federal agency,” Baylor said.
News Center 7 talked to Baylor on the phone this weekend.
“She had all the talking, I stayed silent the whole day because again, that’s not my job,” he said.
CPS’ superintendent said the two officers did not interact with any students.
ICE sent the I-Team a statement:
“ICE does not target schools for enforcement actions. (Wednesday), a local law enforcement partner attempted to verify school enrollment and conduct welfare checks on children who arrived unaccompanied across the border. To be crystal clear this was not an ICE officer or an enforcement action.”
ICE then went on to say in the statement that it started a program with state and local partners in November:
“Aimed at protecting the 450,000 unaccompanied children (UAC) illegally smuggled over the border and placed with unvetted sponsors under the Biden administration.
This new law enforcement partnership, known as the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, represents ICE’s commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation through collaboration with 287(g) law enforcement partners. The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited."
ICE did not explicitly say in the statement whether what the Gratis officers were doing in Cincinnati last week was part of its UAC Safety Verification Initiative.
In an email conversation this weekend, News Center 7 asked Lamanna if what she was doing was part of that program.
“In additional [sic] to 287g which was signed in Oct and added the UAC in March,” she replied.
We also asked her if ICE directed her to do those welfare checks on unaccompanied children?
She answered: “Yes.”
News Center 7 asked if ICE gave her a list of unaccompanied children to check on.
She said “yes.”
We asked the chief to provide copies of the UAC documents and that list. She replied:
“I have no way of getting documents to you at this time, but I do have them all and will release when advised I can.”
News Center 7 reached out ot ICE for a third time since Friday and asked questions related to Lamanna’s response.
We will update if we receive a response.
Gratis leaders said they’ll release more information “as appropriate” once their internal investigation is finished.
[SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
