35 new charges filed against former PSD bus attendant; 5 more victims added to case
Thirty-five additional charges, involving five more victims, were filed Tuesday against a former Poudre School District paraprofessional bus attendant accused of assaulting and harassing students on school buses, Judge Daniel McDonald said during a bond hearing.
The new charges include four additional counts of assault against an at-risk person and 31 misdemeanor counts of child abuse and harassment, Fort Collins police spokesperson Brandon Barnes said.
Fort Collins police presented the additional charges to the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office on June 28 based on additional review of video surveillance and investigation, but they were not filed in court until Tuesday, Barnes said.
Tyler Zanella, 36, had previously been charged with 129 offenses, including 30 counts of felony assault against an at-risk person, for incidents police say happened in April and May while he was performing his duties as an attendant on one or more PSD buses transporting children who were identified in court as nonverbal and autistic.
The new counts bring the total number of charges Zanella is facing to 164, McDonald said during a previously scheduled bond hearing. A spokesperson for the district attorney's office confirmed the filing of the 35 new charges in an email late Tuesday afternoon. They were not immediately reflected in online court records.
More: Legal documents reveal new details of abuse case against PSD bus paraprofessional
Deputy District Attorney Laura Hinojos brought up the additional charges during the hearing while asking the judge to extend the mandatory protection order to five additional victims and their families. That request will be heard at Zanella’s next court appearance, a disposition hearing scheduled before McDonald at 9 a.m. Oct. 19 in Courtroom 4B of the Larimer County Justice Center.
The mandatory protection order currently applies to the six victims involved in the earlier charges and their families.
Zanella was arrested May 24 following a review of video surveillance from a school bus by PSD officials and law enforcement. He was fired that day from a job he had held since Aug. 29, 2022, a PSD spokesperson said. More charges were added as police reviewed additional video surveillance, Fort Collins police said.
Zanella is out of jail on a $60,000 bond. His bond requirement was increased from the original $40,000 following his arrest Sept. 1 for violating the terms of his bond, a felony offense. He was taken into custody Sept. 1 at a Wellington home he shared with his girlfriend and two children prior to his initial arrest, Fort Collins police records obtained Tuesday show. His bond conditions did not allow him to have contact with his children, and the arrest record indicates he had been exchanging text messages with one of them.
Zanella spent the Labor Day weekend in jail and was released Sept. 5 after posting the new bond amount, according to court and Larimer County Jail records.
More: PSD superintendent shares changes being made, considered since paraprofessional's arrest
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: New charges filed against former Poudre School District bus attendant
