NBC29School Bus Driver Facing Sex Charges
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For the second time in as many weeks, a Staunton City Schools employee has lost her job and faces felony charges. This time, it's a bus driver who's accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student.
At the beginning of this week, Paula Tomlin was a bus driver and part-time teacher's aide for Staunton schools. That's not the case anymore. The 36-year-old was arrested Thursday night on felony charges in Staunton and Augusta County. She's charged with seven counts of indecent liberties with a child by a person in a supervisory role.
Police say the victim is a 16-year-old boy who attends classes at the Genesis Alternative School. They say he and Tomlin began a sexual relationship about three weeks ago.
School officials say they learned of the relationship this past Wednesday. School officials and police say Tomlin would drop off all other students first, then swap the bus for her car.
Investigators claim Tomlin and the teen would then drive to her apartment in Staunton or to the Mint Spring Area of Augusta County. A short hike led to their alleged rendezvous point, the Folly Mills waterfalls.
Staunton police say text messages between Tomlin and the teenager will be key evidence in the case. "The text messages were sexually explicit. And that was something obviously, that caught our eye early in the investigation. There wasn't anything innocent about them," said Investigator J.I. Hylton with the Staunton Police.
This case comes just one week after a Shelburne Middle School teacher was accused of making written bomb threats to her own school. In both cases, their alleged actions quickly resulted in a lost job and an arrest.
Staunton School Superintendent Dr. Steven Nichols explained, "We are in a true caregiving role to these kids. It's our function. And anyone who deviates from that is going to be treated the same way. I'm not going to have kids treated badly or taken advantage of, and heaven help the one that I find that does."
Tomlin spent Thursday night in the Middle River Regional Jail, but posted $5,000 bond Friday morning.
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