Former Austin ISD Bus Driver Sentenced For Child Indecency

AUSTIN, TX — A former school bus driver who transported special needs children was sentenced to 20 years in prison after bring charged with indecency with a child, the district attorney's office said this week.

Cesar Maldonado, 58, a former bus driver for special needs students at the Austin Independent School District was sentenced on Friday, the Travis County District Attorney's Office said on Friday. The 20-year prison sentence is the maximum sentence for the charge of Indecency with a Child by Contact, a second degree felony, officials noted.

Maldonado last month pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching a five year-old girl several times during the Spring 2018 school year, according to the DA's office. The Austin Police Department was notified after the girl made an outcry to her mother, prosecutors said.

Surveillance video corroborated the girl's claim, capturing several incidents of Maldonado abusing the child in the presence of other children. Prosecutors said Maldonado subsequently confessed to the crimes to an Austin ISD police detective.

Maldonado was formally sentenced on Friday by Judge David Wahlberg in 167th District Court, according to the DA's office.

“When parents send their young children to school, they should expect and demand that their children be kept safe," Travis County Assistant District Attorney Jessica Wolfe of the Child Abuse Special Victims Unit said in a prepared statement. "When there is a threat to the safety of one of our most vulnerable populations, our office will hold those perpetrators accountable.”

The case was tried by Wolfe and Assistant District Attorney Coulter Goodman, officials noted.