A 70-year-old Delaware County school bus driver is charged with hundreds of counts after teen students at a Catholic School accused him of taking upskirt photos and videos of them.
Bruce Garner was arrested Friday morning at his home in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office and Upper Providence Township police said.
Garner was charged with 139 counts each of invasion of privacy, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of communication facility and sexual abuse of children, police said. Garner was also charged with endangering the welfare of children and possessing instruments of crime.
"The unspeakable actions of Bruce Garner were an invasion of the teenage and pre-teen victims' privacy and absolutely an attack on their innocence," Upper Providence Police Chief David Montella said at a Friday news conference.
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Police said they would work with the school district and county advocates to help the student victims.
The arrest of Garner came in under a week.
On Monday, Upper Providence Township police responded to the St. Mary Magdalen School in Media, Pennsylvania, and interviewed a teen girl who reported improper conduct from her bus driver.
Investigators determined the driver was using his cellphone to take upskirt photos of female students. An Upper Providence Township Police detective spoke with the Special Victims Unit and a search warrant was obtained Tuesday for the bus driver’s phone. Police later identified two other teen victims and detectives contacted their parents.
Police said Garner didn't appear to have had any direct sexual contact with any victims. That didn't mean that he didn't violate the trust of girls in his care.
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"Mr. Garner, the allegations that against him are that he is a child predator," Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Friday. "He preyed on these young women that he befriended on that bus in his employment."
Garner would speak to the girls on the bus as part of a "grooming" process, Stollsteimer said.
Stollsteimer said the girls who came forward were "absolute heroes" for coming forward. "They have stopped other people from being victimized," he said.
The driver was assigned to bus No. 302 in the Marple Newtown School District, according to a school district spokesperson earlier this week. The spokesperson said the driver was fired and was not allowed to enter school grounds. The school district said it was cooperating with police in the ongoing investigation.
Investigators said Garner worked for the school district since 2015.
Upskirting occurs when someone photographs or takes video of another person’s private parts without their consent, police said.
Investigators confirmed they found 139 upskirting images of Catholic school students on Garner's cellphone, but found no evidence Garner had shared the images with anyone else. They didn't reveal exactly how many girls were depicted.
Garner was jailed on 10% of $250,000 bail. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
Anyone with additional information on the investigation should call Upper Providence Police Detective Sergeant George Moore at 610-566-8445.
