Bus driver, aide charged for leaving student on bus

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A 16-year-old student with special needs who was reported missing last month was later discovered locked in a school bus at the Ocean Township Board of Education transportation yard.

The teen’s mother reported him missing on May 4 after he did not return home from school in the afternoon. The bus driver, George Werman, told officers involved in the investigation that he dropped off the student at his residence at about 3:20 p.m. and observed him being supervised by another family member as he entered the home.

A follow-up investigation and search led to the teen being found inside the bus at the transportation yard by officer Kate Delanoy. It was estimated that he had been left unattended in the vehicle for about two hours and 45 minutes.

Werman and Robert Cronin, an aide who rides the bus, were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child.