A Harlem school aide was busted with a loaded gun, ammo and drugs when authorities raided his home as part of a larger investigation, police said.
Nicholas Banks, 26, who works at Mott Hall High School in Harlem, was arrested at around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday after investigators with the NYPD and the Queens District Attorney’s office raided his home on West 152nd Street, where they found a loaded .380-caliber handgun, along with an unspecified amount of marijuana and ammunition, cops said late Wednesday.
Banks, who also works as an assistant basketball coach at the school, was allegedly caught twice selling drugs — once dealing marijuana to someone under 18.
The second time, on April 9, he allegedly sold cocaine and Oxycodone to 36-year-old Timothy Wong near the intersection of Columbus Avenue and West 76th Street. Wong was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance for the bust, police said.
Banks — who has worked as a school aide at Mott Hall High School since September 2017 — was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal sale of marijuana, conspiracy, criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana, police said.
City Department of Education spokesperson Doug Cohen called that allegations “extremely troubling.”
“[T]his school aide was immediately suspended without pay pending the outcome of the criminal matter,” Cohen added.
Wednesday’s raid of Bank’s Harlem apartment was part of a larger, long-term investigation being executed by the Queens District Attorney’s office. Officials are expected to announce additional details surrounding the investigation later on Thursday.



