FOX25 Investigates: School bus driver who kept license after rape arrest pleads guilty

BOSTON — A former Gardner school bus driver has pleaded guilty to the rape of a 12-year-old autistic girl, FOX25 has learned.

That driver, Chris Chiasson, was at the center of a FOX25 Investigates story that exposed a dangerous loophole that allowed school bus drivers charged with serious crimes to keep their licenses.

Prosecutors said Chiasson pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of rape and abuse of a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

He was sentenced to six to eight years in state prison with 10 years of probation upon release, according to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office.

Chiasson 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. He was charged with raping the girl earlier this year.

But the state Department of Public Utilities, which licenses all school bus drivers in the state, never suspended his license.

FOX25 Investigates first reported on Chiasson and the loophole in the state system that licenses school bus drivers in September.

As a result of the story, the Governor’s Office sent a bulletin to all law enforcement last month asking officers who suspect they have arrested a licensed school bus driver to report the incident to the RMV.

Under the new directive, the RMV would suspend the licenses of bus drivers arrested for serious crimes while the charges are pending.

The Governor’s Office has said the RMV is working on an automatic notification system – a permanent fix to this loophole. But that new alert system may not be available until next year.

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