Shultz

A Blair County school bus aide arrested in early May for allegedly molesting a 5-year-old student is facing additional charges after multiple families came forward to report similar incidents with their children.

In the initial case, Brandon Michael Shultz, 28, Hollidaysburg, was charged with felony counts of school employee intercourse/sexual contact with a student, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors by a person age 18 or above, as well as a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a victim less than 13 years of age. The charges in that case have been waived to court.

The charges in the new case against Shultz filed Monday include six felony counts each of institutional sexual assault, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years of age and corruption of minors. He is being held at the Blair County Prison on $250,000 in each of his cases. His preliminary hearing in the most recent case is set for Oct. 2 before Magisterial District Judge Matthew Dunio.

Shultz was taken into custody on May 7 following an investigation that began in April when the victim told her parents that she had been touched inappropriately.

Employed by the Blair County Head Start program as a bus aide for nine years, Shultz would help students get on and off the bus so as to not distract the driver.

On the day of the alleged incident, Shultz asked to sit next to the victim because he noticed she was “upset,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

The victim told officers that Shultz asked her to sit on his lap. When she did so, the victim said Shultz rubbed her legs and over her underwear, the police report states.

In an interview, Shultz denied doing anything wrong before admitting to putting the victim on his lap and touching her inappropriately. Officers then asked Shultz why he touched the victim, to which Shultz said he “did it to make her happy,” according to the affidavit.

Once Shultz’s arrest became public, several other families and parents came forward to report similar situations involving their children and Shultz, leading to the additional charges being filed.

On May 9, investigators seized Shultz’s cellphone from the Blair County Prison for a forensic extraction and identified 93 photographs that appeared to be taken on the bus. While they included selfies of children by themselves or selfies of children with Shultz, officers found no pornographic images or videos, the police report states.

In an interview regarding the new allegations, a different school bus aide told officers she saw Shultz on April 17 in his assigned bus but not his assigned seat. A child was out of her seatbelt harness and sitting on Shultz’s lap, possibly bouncing up and down. By the time the aide noticed, the child was no longer on Shultz’s lap, she said. The aide couldn’t remember where Shultz’s hands were or if there were any other movements, but reported it to her supervisors, who completed a ChildLine notification, according to the affidavit.

Between May 21 and June 4, children were interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center. One child said Shultz would give other children candy and earrings to take home. She said Shultz also gave kids his cellphone to go on Snapchat, took kids out of their seatbelts to place on his lap and let kids take pictures on his phone, the report states.

Additional interviews revealed Shultz “pinched” one girl “in the boobies two times” and would hold a girl on his lap before sliding his hands on her body, rubbing her chest, waist and butt. One boy reported seeing Shultz use his hands to touch the “private things” on his friend’s bodies and, when asked to clarify, said “on their butt and wiener,” court documents state.

When asked if anyone had shown her pictures of someone without their clothes on, one girl said she saw pictures of naked children on Shultz’s phone when she was at school and had shown other children. The girl said Shultz asked her if she liked them, to which she said “no, because they were naked,” and Shultz reportedly replied “they are naked, you are right.”

In a statement released in May, Blair County Head Start said Shultz was placed on administrative leave.