David Andrew Gerlach, 49, of Brownsdale, Minnesota a bus driver and bus manager for the Hayfield School District, in Hayfield, Minnesota has been charged with molesting boys.

Gerlach, whom many in his hometown refer to as “well thought of” and a “contributing member of the community”, is facing sexual abuse charges in two counties alleging the sexual abuse of boys.

Gerlach is charged in Dodge County with felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree attempted sexual conduct involving a boy who was at least 16-years-old at the time of the alleged offenses. The boy’s mother discovered text messages allegedly sent by Gerlach to her son’s cell phone, informed police and police pretending to be the boy sent a text message from his cell phone to Gerlach setting up a meeting at Hayfield High School, where Gerlach was arrested.

He is charged in Mower County with 12 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree burglary. It is alleged that Gerlach committed incidents of sexual abuse between 1993 and 2001 in Brownsdale, involving a boy who was 8 when the misconduct began with the alleged abuse occurring on a bus, at a bus garage, at the school in Brownsdale and at the boy’s home.

Gerlach is out on bail from both counties, appeared in courts of both counties this week and likely faces trial first on the more serious charges in Mower County.

References:

Charges against bus driver bring shock, silence (8/11/07)

Gerlach’s first Mower County hearing postponed (8/10/07)

Gerlach appears in court (8/09/07)

School Bus Driver Faces Sex Assault Charges (7/26/07)

Stanton Day, 65, of Summerset, South Dakota, a former Meade County school bus driver charged in March with molesting a 10-year-old girl pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual contact with a child younger than 16 and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Day was originally charged with six counts of first-degree rape and one count of sexual contact with a child younger than 16.

Day, who had been a bus driver for the Meade School District for 15 years, said the sexual contact took place twice in his parked bus between September 2006 and March 2007.

Day faces up to 36 years in prison when sentenced on August 27th.

A pre-sentencing bond of $15,000 cash or surety was set for Day and if he bonds out pending sentencing he must be constantly supervised by his wife or two sons and can have no contact with anyone younger than 16 except for family members.

References:

School bus driver pleads guilty to molesting girl (Be sure and check out the reader forum comments below article)

Driver pleads guilty to molesting girl on school bus

Bus Driver Pleads Guilty To Molesting Girl (7/10/07)