Boy, 12, Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Girl, 3

Vince Gerasole
CBS 2 Chicago
August 30th 2010

GURNEE, Ill. (CBS) – She’s only three-years-old, but her mother says she was sexually assaulted on a Gurnee School District bus.

Her alleged attacker is a 12-year-old boy. CBS 2′s Vince Gerasole reports, the attack this past Friday was apparently captured on the bus’ security camera.

Administrators now are asking how this could happen on the school bus ride home.

“The kids on that bus with that girl had no record of aggressive behavior. No record of violence,” Gurnee School District 56 Supt. John Hutton said.

The investigation has been aided by the fact each of the 30 buses in District 56 were just equipped with surveillance cameras in both the front and the back.

“You could see things were happening to her, but it wasn’t graphic,” said Hutton, who revealed that the alleged attack happened in the second row of the bus.

It begs the question: Despite sitting so close, why didn’t the 71-year-old bus driver notice the attack? The driver has since resigned

“That’s certainly one of the questions we have,” said Hutton. “Why didn’t the person see or hear anything that would have alerted them about the situation?”

However, with smaller people, the taller seat backs make it difficult to see what’s going on in the seats.

Authorities say the video was the key in taking the 12-year-old suspect into custody.

“Clearly when you have a three-year-old victim, it certainly helps to corroborate what’s going on,” said Gurnee Police Cmdr. Jay Patrick.

The district says bus monitors have been assigned to routes when district administrators are aware of problem students, but this route presented no red flags.

“Did we miss something?” said Hutton. “Is there something in those files we should have seen before we put the kids on the bus with that girl?”

The boy remained in custody Monday and charges were pending in juvenile court as the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office investigates.