Ex-bus driver sentenced for sexually abusing 2 young girls with special needs


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WEST JORDAN — A Draper bus driver proclaimed his innocence Tuesday but was ordered to serve 19 concurrent terms of 15 years to life in prison for sexually abusing two young special-needs girls under his care.

The sentence was imposed by 3rd District Judge Douglas Hogan during an emotional hearing.

"I know and God knows that I did not commit these crimes," John Martin Carrell, 62, said. He grew emotional at times during the hearing, his voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes.

In July, a jury convicted Carrell of 19 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony. The panel acquitted him of 14 identical charges.

Defense attorney Ron Yengich asked the judge to take into account how Carrell "lived (his) life outside the context of that crime," pointing to his lack of any criminal record.

"To the people who know him best, he's been a good man," Yengich said. "A good stepfather … a good grandfather."

Carrell reiterated that he was innocent multiple times and said it was unreasonable to think he would be capable of sexually abusing the girls.

"You don't wake up when you're 61 years old and say, 'I'm going to be a pedophile today. I'm going to be a child molester today,'" he said. "I treated those kids like I treated my own grandkids."

But prosecutor Nathan Evershed said despite his claims of innocence and the sorrow his family feels, Carrell can blame no one but himself.

"Parents are asked by society to send their children from home to school to be educated," Evershed said. "The expectation of parents is that their beloved children will be safe."

Evershed said Carrell's victims are still in therapy, "have been scarred forever" and have told others they are "still hurting."

"We have two little girls whose lives will be changed forever," he said.

The father of one of the victims stood in front of Hogan with his wife and asked for Carrell to be given the maximum possible sentence.

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"We trusted the school and the bus driver to keep her safe, and they did not," the man said. "Our sweet innocent daughter was hurt by Mr. Carrell."

The man added that his family was hurt when their integrity was questioned because of the allegations against Carrell.

"My wife and I take comfort in our daughter's bravery in telling what happened," he said.

One of Carrell's supporters abruptly rushed out of the courtroom when Hogan handed down his sentence.

"As a family, we maintain his innocence," Tamra Ashby, Carrell's stepdaughter, said after the hearing. Other members of his family declined to comment.

Ashby told the judge she trusts her stepfather with her own children.

"The way he's been portrayed has been grossly inaccurate," she said through tears.

After 15 hours of deliberation in July, jurors decided surveillance footage from Carrell's school bus and victim testimony proved he was guilty of aggravated sexual abuse.

The abuse in question occurred several times in March and April 2014 as Carrell unbuckled the girls or held them close to him while he sat in the driver's seat of the bus. The vehicle was waiting outside Altara Elementary School in Sandy during those incidents.

"(Carrell) has affected his victims' families (and) his own families," said Kevin Robson, a spokesman for the family of one of Carrell's victims. "I feel sorry for everyone in this case, except for Mr. Carrell."


(Carrell) has affected his victims' families (and) his own families. I feel sorry for everyone in this case, except for Mr. Carrell.

–Kevin Robson, a spokesman for the family of one of Carrell's victims


Evershed told reporters the jury's deliberations and its verdict finding Carrell guilty should be respected and said he was "very satisfied" with Tuesday's sentencing.

"We're talking 5-year-old girls and a bus driver," Evershed said. "This is the appropriate sentence."

Carrell disagreed, saying the judicial system always assumed he was guilty.

"I don't feel like I've ever been allowed the presumption of innocence," he told the judge.

Carrell also criticized mandatory minimum sentencing laws that made at least some prison time a foregone conclusion before Tuesday's hearing.

"Your hands are tied because our lawmakers want to usurp your power and your judgement," he told the judge. "You sit in the judgement seat. And they've tied your hands, and that's wrong."

Carrell at one point gestured angrily toward a reporter's video camera and criticized the media's handling of the case.

"The media, they want me dressed up like this so they can get their headlines," he said, also gesturing to his tan jumpsuit. "Everybody has a motive and something to gain."

Carrell's last statement at sentencing was resolute and defiant of the charges against him.

"I will not — nor cannot — admit to something that I did not do even if it costs me my life," he said. "But I know and God knows, and he is my final judge."

In his ruling, Hogan said he respects the decision-making process and verdict of the jury.

The judge added his main concern is for Carrell's victims, saying "it's hard to know how far these ripples go."

Contributing: Geoff Liesik

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