School bus driver molested girls in front of others, NJ cops say

A school bus driver in Morris County has been charged with molesting two girls in his bus while they were surrounded by classmates.

Thomas Thomasevich, a 70-year-old resident of Oakland, was being held Wednesday at the county jail on two counts each of second-degree sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment, and six counts of fourth-degree child cruelty and neglect.

Prosecutors say Thomasevich was accused of committing "acts of sexual contact" on two girls in Kinnelon while he was working as a driver for Butler-based First Student Bus Co.

Officials on Wednesday did not publicly reveal other details about the allegations. Authorities in Morris County do not release arrest booking photos of suspects and were unable to provide another photo of Thomasevich.

Investigators ask anyone with more information about this case to call the county Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit at 973-285-6200 or Kinnelon police at 973-835-5400.

Thomasevich is not the first school bus driver to be charged with molesting students in recent years. In 2018, police charged a then-84-year-old Montgomery man after two adults came forward to say that Edward Atoeff had sexually assaulted them when they were 8 and 12 years old. Investigators later learned about seven more victims.