A Tennessee School Bus Driver Admitted To Raping A Student, Will Serve No Jail Time

A Tennessee school bus driver has admitted to raping a female student, but he will not serve any jail time for his crimes, WTVC (Chattanooga) is reporting.

In a plea deal accepted by Judge Barry Steelman, Alexander Rodriquez pleaded guilty to statutory rape and was given four-year prison sentence, which was then suspended. He will have to register as a sex offender and undergo supervised probation for ten years, and he will have to wear an ankle monitor during that time.

Back in March 2015, according to a Chattanooga Times Free Press report from the time, a 15-year-old female student at Sale Creek High School entered the bus that Rodriguez drove. That would be the last time anyone would see her until much later that night. At about 9:40 P.M., her family called Chattanooga police to report her missing. She turned up at her home at about 10:16 P.M., and when she did, she told her family – and later, the police – about her harrowing ordeal.

The teen victim said that Rodriguez first drove her to the parking garage where Chattanooga school buses are kept, then he drove her by car to a Super 8 motel. There, she says, the school bus driver forced her to perform oral sex on him before raping her, although she repeatedly told him “no.” At one point, according to the victim’s testimony, she told Rodriguez that he was hurting her, and he responded by saying that he was “trying to make it hurt.”

While the two were at the motel, Rodriguez got a phone call from the cops asking if he knew anything about the missing teen’s whereabouts. Apparently spooked, Rodriguez put the teen back in his car and drove her to a secluded area and made her get out, then drove off. It took the girl about an hour to walk home.

When cops questioned Rodriguez, he first denied having ever met the girl or having seen her on his bus. Under further questioning, he claimed that he had merely given her a ride to a Krystal restaurant.

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When police asked the bus driver if he knew anything about a Super 8 motel, he asked for an attorney.

Rodriguez’ attorney, Johnny Houston, said that whether or not the teenage victim was forced to perform sex acts is a matter of dispute, according to the Times Free Press.

“The evidence didn’t really bear that out. So there may have been some overall credibility issues with her.”

Prosecutor Jason Demastus, who so far has declined to comment on the case, apparently did not ask for prison time, according to Houston.

“The judge asked why the state wasn’t asking for time. We did point out that [Rodriquez] had already served 100 days.

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond sympathized with parents, who may be concerned about who is driving their children to and from school.

“A parent wants to be able to be assured they have people who’ve had proper background checks, that do not have past felony records or any kind of record and they are the character and quality, know they would treat that child, you want the child handled.”

As it turns out, Rodriguez did not have a criminal record prior to the rape, save for a traffic violation that was later dismissed.

The family of the teenage victim, meanwhile, has filed a $10 million lawsuit, arguing that the rape has done irreparable damage not just to just to the teenage victim, but to her family as well.

Do you believe the school bus driver should have been given a harsher sentence for raping a student?

[Image via Shutterstock/Christopher Boswell]