‘Absolutely shocked.’ 8-year-old described sexual assault by Coast bus driver, father testifies
Sergio Sandoval awarded an 8-year-old Oak Park Elementary student a certificate for outstanding behavior the same day she tearfully told her father she had been sexually assaulted by Sandoval.
At first, her father said, the then-second-grader told him she didn’t want to ride the school bus anymore because “she was afraid she was going to get in trouble,” he said.
“The first thing that came to mind was, ‘oh no, there is a bully on the bus,’” her father said, but what was happening was much worse.
His daughter was upset, her cries uncontrollable.
“What she told me was the bus driver was putting his hands down her pants and touching her private parts,” her father said Monday. “When she told me that, I was just absolutely shocked, and I was just dumbfounded.”
Within an hour, the girl’s father had taken his daughter to the Ocean Springs Police Department to file a report on the alleged sex assault.
Her father said he knew she was telling the truth, that she was a straight-A student and a child that has never caused any problems in the family.
The father is among others who testified Monday in Sandoval’s trial this week on four counts of felony touching of a child for lustful purposes and one count of sexual battery. If convicted of all the charges, Sandoval could got to prison for life.
The girl’s father said he waited about an hour before going to the police to file charges. He said he knew she was telling the truth but wanted to explain to his daughter how serious the allegations were, and get her to go over what happened once more before he drove her there.
Police got the report in October 2014.
The next morning, the girl’s father called Oak Park Elementary Principal Jennifer Pope to tell her what had happened and how his daughter did not feel safe on the school bus.
The school district reviewed surveillance video footage from the bus, fired Sandoval, and hired a woman as a replacement bus driver so the girl would feel safe.
Pope said surveillance video showed the girl being called to the front of the bus off and on during each trip. In some cases, the second-grader would return to her seat with candy Sandoval had apparently given to her.
According to prosecutors District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath and Assistant District Attorney Justin Lovorn, the crimes occurred while the girl was standing next to Sandoval as he drove the school bus. Sandoval allegedly touched the girl’s genitalia on several occasions before he put his hands down her pants and sexually assaulted her.
Prosecutors showed extensive video Monday of the girl on the bus and the number of times Sandoval called her to the front.
The former transportation director for the school district said Sandoval was violating school policy when he allowed the girl and other students to stand at the front of the bus while it was moving.
Sandoval had been a bus driver for the Ocean Springs School District for eight years until the girl and her father reported the alleged crimes and he was fired for violating school district policies.
Defense attorney Jim Davis pointed out Sandoval had always received a good report on his evaluation and had no complaints filed against him until the October 2014 incident.
At time of the alleged crimes, the girl had been riding Sandoval’s bus for a couple of months.
In other testimony, Pope described the girl as shy and timid and who had good grades and never got in trouble. Ocean Springs police, the victim, a forensic interviewer and other are expected to testify this week.
Sandoval has maintained he has no memory of the crime or of even being a school bus driver. Those statements came after he was evaluated to determine if he was competent to stand trial.
Testimony resumes Tuesday morning before Judge Kathy King Jackson.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
