Gov. Baker calls for action after FOX25 Investigates uncovers dangerous loophole

GARDNER, Mass. — UPDATE:
Gov. Charlie Baker is calling for change in the system that licenses school bus drivers – just one day after FOX25 Investigates reported on a dangerous loophole that found drivers charged with serious crimes were falling through the cracks and allowed to keep their licenses.

Baker spoke with Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen Tuesday morning and said he wants to close that loophole.

“Frankly, the report raised an interesting, an important element in the current system,” said Baker told FOX25. “The way the system's currently designed, if you're arrested and you're a bus driver, there's nothing about the way the system's currently set up to automatically let the registry or the DPU know about that… I think what you folks in the report you did last night is, we may need to change our statutory authority to make it possible for the registry to accept that information.”

ORIGINAL STORY:
A disturbing crack in the licensing system keeps the state from tracking when school bus drivers are arrested on felony charges and FOX25 Investigates found one driver was allowed to keep his license even after he was charged with raping a 12-year-old girl with autism.

ORIGINAL VIDEO

Chris Chiasson, 60, was employed as a school bus driver in Gardner at the same time police say he was sexually abusing the girl in a neighboring town. Chiasson has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated rape and abuse of a child, enticement of a child under 16 and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Chiasson was arraigned in February, but FOX 25 Investigates discovered that the state Department of Public Utilities  which licenses all school bus drivers in the state  never suspended Chiasson's bus license.

First Student, the bus contractor for Gardner Public Schools, declined an on-camera interview but told FOX25 Investigates that Chiasson was hired in 2013 and passed all of his annual criminal background checks with the state.

Under the state's current system, Chiasson, who still has no criminal convictions on his record, would have likely passed a background check this year too. But court records show a judge ordered Chiasson to stay away from kids under 16 while he awaits trial.

First Student told FOX25 Investigates Chiasson asked to go on leave in January and he was fired several weeks later when he was arraigned and they learned about the charges against him.

While the RMV can revoke school bus drivers' licenses for motor vehicle violations, such as unpaid parking tickets or drunken driving, the registry has no way of knowing when a bus driver is arrested on major felony charges unless someone reports it to the agency.

Gardner parents told FOX25 Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen they are outraged they were never told about the court charges against Chiasson.

"I was horrified because I don't have anybody else to drive my kid to school," said Gardner mom Kristen Merrullo. "If they didn't check into him, how many other bus drivers have they not checked into?"

Bus drivers slipping through the cracks

FOX25 Investigates obtained nearly 100 pages of documents for school bus driver licenses suspended or revoked since the 2014 school year. But state officials blacked out bus drivers' names, offenses and where they worked.

Annual background checks caught nine bus drivers with criminal convictions, but those bus drivers were allowed to keep driving while their cases moved through the court system, records show.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton, who oversees school bus licenses for the state, wouldn't comment on why the state never suspended or revoked Chiasson's license.

"I don't have any comment on that right now," said Beaton. "I'm waiting to talk to my team further on the matter."

Beaton also declined comment when FOX25 Investigates asked him whether parents deserve to have information on bus drivers who are charged with a serious crime.

Parents demand answers

Gardner mom Amanda Peabody told FOX25 she now questions how the state licenses school bus drivers.

"For years I rode the bus," said Peabody. "It never was a doubt in my mind that the bus drivers were great. But now with all this, it makes me wonder."

Peabody said she's also upset she wasn't told about Chiasson when he was first arraigned in February.

"It's made me sick to my stomach that somebody really thought that it was ok to do what he did," said Peabody.

After FOX25 Investigates contacted Gardner Superintendent of Schools Denise Clemons last month about Chiasson's case, she sent a letter to parents notifying them the victim was not a Gardner student and did not ride Chiasson's bus.

She also wrote in the letter that the abuse did not happen while Chiasson was driving for Gardner schools  a statement Clemons now admits is incorrect.

"After the letter came out I found out that the abuse did happen while he was driving for Gardner Public Schools, so I'm still a little bit upset about that," said Clemons.

Clemons said First Student  the bus contractor  never told her Chiasson was driving Gardner students when the alleged abuse happened.

First Student said the company had no idea when the abuse happened until contacted by FOX25 Investigates. The company also said it informed Gardner school officials when Chiasson was arraigned that he had been a Gardner schools driver but hadn't driven for the district in a month.

Call for action

Clemons is calling on the state to do more.

"The license should be suspended until it goes through the court case," said Clemons. "You want to make sure that children are always safe and so it was disturbing to me."

The RMV tells FOX25 Investigates the agency can revoke a school bus driver license anytime if someone reports an arrest.

But the agency did not respond to questions about how often that reporting system is actually used.

First Student told FOX25 it's not required to report arrests to the RMV.

Chiasson, who has been released on GPS monitor while his criminal case is pending, declined to talk about the charges against him or his job as a school driver when FOX25 Investigates tried to speak with him at his home.
He is next scheduled to appear in Franklin Superior Court on Sept. 29.

Cox Media Group