Newton school bus driver faces kidnapping charges

NEWTON - A Newton school bus driver is facing three kidnapping charges, after the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said he took children with disabilities to secluded areas, instead of dropping them off at the Newton Early Education Childhood Program.

Prosecutors say Justin Vose, 42 of Bedford, took three semi nonverbal children to secluded areas, then turned off the audio and video recording in the bus for up to 20 minutes and took photos with them. The kids were between 3 and 5 years old.

Vose worked as a bus driver through an outside contractor, JSC Transportation, prosecutors said. Prosecutors say the school became suspicious back in May, after the contracted bus driver brought one of the students late at daycare.

Instead of dropping off the child, investigators say GPS showed the 42-year-old drove to a secluded part of the parking lot near the woods.

Parents disturbed by allegations

Parents who see the buses at their children's school were disturbed at the allegations. "That is super concerning, that's scary!" said a parent who did not want to be identified. "God only knows either those few seconds or minutes and these parents have no idea or how are they going to find out what happened to their kids?"

WBZ reached out to Newton Public Schools. Officials said all their drivers get background checks, and Vose passed all required checks and had no history of prior incidents.

They said in a statement that ensuring "the safety and well-being of our students" was the district's top priority.

Officials added, "Our focus remains on providing caring support to our students and families. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for all members of our school community and want to emphasize that situations like this are not a regular occurrence. Our tracking routines allowed us to successfully hold this individual accountable."

WBZ also reached out to the bus company-we haven't heard back.

Vose will be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn on October 25th at 9:30 a.m.