A Wilmington bus driver is accused of inappropriately touching children and inappropriate social media activity.
A parent in the district said he alerted police to that activity after he claims the bus driver came into his salon.
“It all started here, where he came to get his haircut from me,” Nick Rocco said.
Nick Rocco runs his own salon in Reading, but his daughter goes to middle school in Wilmington. He said the bus driver came into his salon last month, claiming he was his daughter’s former bus driver.
“My daughter told me that he had followed her on Instagram,” Rocco said. “That’s where the suspicion started once my daughter told me that.”
Rocco said he started looking into the bus driver’s social media and found concerning content that had been reposted by the driver. Rocco’s daughter is a cheerleader, so he started reaching out to other parents.
“We reached out and we found out that he was specifically driving the cheerleaders to their homes, skipping the bus stop and driving them directly home. And that is when we found out that an incident happened on the bus with another student, and that’s why the Wilmington Police are looking to charge him now based on that bus video,” Rocco explained.
In a post on FaceBook, the Wilmington Police Department confirmed its intent to charge the bus driver. Officials explained that back on Dec. 8, they were notified of potentially inappropriate social media activity by the bus driver, which is what started their investigation. A few days later, they said more parents came forward with allegations against the 70-year-old driver, including one who said he allegedly touched their child inappropriately while on the bus, which officials said was later confirmed with bus surveillance footage.
“It was scary to find out what was going on, and this is someone you trust with your kids,” Rocco said.
Wilmington Public Schools said in a statement that they are working with police and the vendor who coordinates bus drivers, North Reading Transportation.
“When concerns arose, we proactively removed the driver as a precaution. Wilmington Public Schools reached out to families on this bus to offer support from our counseling staff and administrators. We will meet with NRT after the holidays to ensure our expectations and NRT’s hiring practices align,” Interim Superintendent Dr. David Thomson wrote.
“More surveillance on the drivers themselves, I think, would be a big step,” Rocco said.
The driver has not yet been identified but is being summonsed to Woburn District Court on Dec. 31 where he’s expected to face charges of assault and battery, as well as indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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