Crime & Safety

Special Needs Student, 3, Left Alone on Bus for Hours, Deputies Say

A Riverview bus driver's aide has been charged with child neglect after the Seffner girl was found on a bus in the parking lot at Valrico Elementary.

A Hillsborough County bus driver's aide from Riverview has been charged with child neglect after deputies said she left a 3-year-old special needs student alone on a bus for five hours.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigators said Sarah Thomas, 61, failed to see that the Seffner child got off at her scheduled stop at Lopez Elementary School on Dec. 15. Instead, the child was found alone on a bus around 1 p.m. that day in the parking lot of Valrico Elementary, where it was parked for the day.

The child had been left on the bus unattended for about five hours, deputies said, noting she had been without food, water or a restroom since she boarded it around 7:20 a.m. The child was not injured, but was taken to a local hospital to be medically cleared, according to a sheriff's office media release.

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Investigators consulted with the State Attorney's Office before issuing a warrant for Thomas' arrest. She was taken into custody Monday, Dec. 19, without incident.


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