Having been a certified school bus driver for almost 20 years, I notice crimes committed by school bus drivers. Mostly, because I think school bus drivers deserve more kudos—so when one does something bad, I feel disheartened. Yes, the man in this true crime was at some point a school bus driver, but that did not factor into his crime(s). When the state attorney filed sexual assault charges against him, the alleged assault victim was not a student who rode on his bus, but a child he’d babysat. Still a horrendous act.
The authorities arrested him on the sexual assault charges, he sat in jail awaiting his turn in the court system. While in jail, he asked a fellow inmate to do him a solid when they released the guy. For $900, the ex-bus driver asked the inmate to murder the sexual assault victim, the victim’s mother, and two detectives associated with the case. The ex-bus driver gave hitman #1 a map of where he’d find the boy and his mother, along with a statement to read to them as they were dying. The inmate agreed—then told the police about the murder-for-hire scheme. They asked him to wear a wire, which he did.
With enough evidence, the authorities charged the ex-bus driver with solicitation of murder. While he awaited his trial on the murder-for-hire plot, he asked a different inmate (hitman #2) to do his dirty work. For a 20+ year old Ford Taurus, and some cash, the plan was the same as before, but also included killing hitman #1. Unfortunately for the ex-bus driver, hitman #2 also turned over the plot to the police.
A state attorney associated with the case said about the defendant,
“[The defendant] is an insidious miscreant who deserves every single day he will be spending in a cold, dark prison cell.”
The 44-year-old ex-bus driver went to trial separately for the two solicitation cases. A jury found him guilty in the first plot. The judge sentenced him to 74 years in prison. A jury found him guilty in the second plot. The judge sentenced him to 76 years in prison. Sentences to be served consecutively (one after the other—not at the same time).
To date, the state’s attorney office has not brought the sexual assault case to trial. However, the ex-bus driver most likely won’t be alive in 2164, age 185, when he’s eligible for release on the two murder-for-hire plots.
Source: Will County State’s Attorney Office, Illinois Department of Corrections, Law & Crime