Possible Plea In Anaheim Hills Bus Crash

ANAHEIM HILLS, CA — A former Orange Unified School District bus driver who passed out behind the wheel in 2014, triggering a crash that seriously injured four students and resulting in the filing of child endangerment and other charges, has signaled he wants to accept a plea deal in which he would not face more than 10 years in prison, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Still to be sorted out is whether Gerald Douglas Rupple can enter his plea via a video-conference call because the 28-year-old defendant is too ill to travel from his Arizona home to Orange County, according to Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Kirk.

Rupple was driving a bus in Anaheim Hills holding 11 El Rancho Charter Middle School students on April 24, 2014, when he lost consciousness while the vehicle was traveling about 50 mph. The bus swerved off the road into several trees, and four students sustained significant injuries such as broken bones, bleeding on the brain, a shattered spine and a toe amputation, prosecutors said.

In January, the Orange Unified School District reached a $10 million settlement with the families of students injured in the crash.

Rupple recently underwent a double lung transplant, but it appears his body may be rejecting the organs, the prosecutor said.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson has told the defendant she would put a "10-year lid" on his sentence if he pleads guilty, Kirk said. Rupple also may be eligible for probation, the prosecutor said.

"Everything's on the table as far as the judge is concerned," Kirk said.

At a hearing Dec. 18, it is expected that Hanson will rule on whether she can legally take the guilty plea via video conference call, Kirk said. If so, then the judge will set a date for the plea. It is expected that at that plea hearing, his attorney, Jacqueline Goodman, would be by his side in Arizona, along with a doctor who would attest to the defendant's suitability medically to make the plea, Kirk said.

After that, a sentencing date would be scheduled, but it's not clear when that would happen because the judge wants Rupple to be physically present for that hearing, the prosecutor said. Rupple could still face the same hurdles of transport to the sentencing hearing, Kirk said.

Prosecutors do not oppose the defendant pleading guilty from out of state, he said.

"Any time anyone wants to accept culpability for their actions is a good thing," Kirk said.

It could be the first time a guilty plea is taken from an Orange County defendant off-site, Kirk said.

"We did some research and we couldn't see any reason why someone couldn't do it if they wanted to," he said.

Rupple underwent the double lung transplant "several weeks ago," his attorney wrote in a motion filed Nov. 20, and "is prevented from traveling by virtue of his tenuous physical condition," but he is "of sound mind and body and fully capable of executing the waivers to entering a plea" in person.

"So delicate is his physical condition" that the defendant is living in a motel near a hospital because his home in Ajo is an hour away, according to Goodman.

Before his lung transplant, Rupple was diagnosed by Dr. Tony Hodges of the Banner University Medical Group in Phoenix with "a rare and terminal illness known as pulmonary arterial hypertension," she said.

Rupple is charged with 11 counts of child abuse and endangerment and one count of perjury for allegedly lying about his medical history when applying for the bus driver's job, with sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury.

Goodman has said that Rupple relied on diagnoses from physicians who told him it was safe for him to drive.

City News Service with Ashley Ludwig, Orange County Patch Editor

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