Vegas school bus driver facing multiple child sex charges


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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police said Friday they're widening an investigation of a school bus driver accused of sexually assaulting early childhood schoolchildren on his route.

Michael Ray Banco, 55, was arrested Thursday and was being held without bail at the Clark County jail pending an initial court appearance on 19 felony kidnapping, child abuse, child sex assault and lewdness with a child charges. The kidnapping charges carry the possibility of life in prison.

Calls to a telephone listed for Banco did not connect, and it wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Investigators believe at least two children were victims, police Lt. Dan McGrath told reporters, and detectives were talking with a third.

"Not to publicize this crime," McGrath said, "but ... there could be more victims."

Clark County School Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and Deputy Police Chief Tom Roberts said Banco drove a small bus on a specialized route throughout the Las Vegas area, transporting about 20 children a day.

They said the alleged sex acts occurred on the bus with preschool and elementary-grade children.

Public school buses in Las Vegas are equipped with security video cameras, but the police and school officials declined to say Friday whether the alleged crimes were recorded. Video from his bus were not made public.

Banco was a bus driver since 1995, Skorkowsky said, and he's currently considered absent from work.

The Clark County School District is the nation's fifth-largest, with more than 318,000 students, 18,000 teachers and about 350 campuses. It has 1,428 bus drivers and 1,440 routes, district spokeswoman Michelle Booth said.

Roberts said police investigators would be available late Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday to answer a special telephone hotline set up for parents who have concerns.

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