Bus Driver Pleads Guilty To Sexually Enticing Teen In Wallingford

WALLINGFORD, CT — A former bus driver has pleaded guilty to a federal charge that he was sexually soliciting a 13-year-old girl who was a passenger on his route in Wallingford, according to authorities. Jose Manuel Santos, 37, of Bridgeport, pleaded guilty Thursday in New Haven federal court to enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, U.S. States Attorney for Connecticut John H. Durham announced.

Santos worked as a bus/van driver in Connecticut with responsibilities that included transporting children going to and from a middle school in Wallingford, according to authorities. Santos was a driver for Curtin Livery, a company that provides statewide transportation, including student and disabled transportation, according to the Connecticut Post. He was immediately suspended once the company found out about the allegations.

“In October 2018, law enforcement received information that Santos was sexually soliciting a 13-year-old girl who was a passenger on his route,” according to a news release from the U.S. States Attorney’s office. “Analysis of the minor victim’s cell phone revealed more than 200 text messages or calls between Santos and the victim, a sexually explicit photo of Santos that Santos sent to the minor victim, and multiple messages in which Santos coerced the victim to send him a sexually explicit photo of her.”

Santos has been detained since his arrest in November 2018. After his arrest, Santos “communicated with others in an attempt to prevent the minor victim from testifying against him,” officials said.

Santos, who is scheduled to be sentenced May 21, faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life imprisonment, according to officials.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit here. To report cases of child exploitation, visit here.