Ex-bus driver Michael Chick agrees to 9 years for stalking Greenland boy, family

Ian Lenahan, Portsmouth Herald
·4 min read

CONCORD — If approved by a federal judge, ex-school bus driver Michael Chick will be sent to prison for nine years after pleading guilty to stalking and threatening an 8-year-old Greenland Central School student on his bus route.

Chick’s defense and federal prosecutors have agreed to a new plea deal calling for him to be imprisoned for close to the maximum 10-year penalty after a federal judge rejected his prior plea deal.

Ex-school bus driver Michael Chick, previously arrested on charges he stalked and threatened an 8-year-old Greenland child on his bus route, has agreed to a plea deal on a federal cyberstalking charge, according to court records.
Ex-school bus driver Michael Chick, previously arrested on charges he stalked and threatened an 8-year-old Greenland child on his bus route, has agreed to a plea deal on a federal cyberstalking charge, according to court records.

The 40-year-old former employee of First Student bus company, an Eliot, Maine resident, has pleaded guilty to a federal count of cyberstalking following his August 2022 arrest. The penalties for the offense include upwards of 10 years in jail, a maximum fine of $250,000 and a term of supervised release lasting no longer than three years.

In December, U.S. District of New Hampshire Chief Judge Landya McCafferty rejected a previously negotiated plea agreement in which Chick would have spent six years behind bars. Chick, his lawyer Behzad Mirhashem and federal prosecutors signed that deal last May.

A sentencing memorandum written in November by prosecuting U.S. Assistant Attorney Kasey Weiland noted the student’s family was unsupportive of the agreed-upon six-year sentence.

“(The child’s) family has endured a terrible trauma, and the criminal justice system will never be able to fully restore the sense of security and personal safety that the defendant stole from them. Understandably, the family would like the defendant to remain in custody as long as possible,” Weiland wrote on Nov. 29. “The family relayed through counsel yesterday that after further reflection and deliberation, they have determined that they will not support the sentence recommended in the plea agreement. The United States anticipates that the family will address the Court in some manner at sentencing.”

Michael Chick, 40, of Eliot, Maine, is facing federal cyberstalking charges.
Michael Chick, 40, of Eliot, Maine, is facing federal cyberstalking charges.

According to the new plea, Chick’s actions toward the boy began at an unknown time but are believed to have started as early as March 2022. He was the boy’s school bus driver from approximately June 2020 until May 2022, according to court filings.

“The defendant understands that as a consequence of his guilty plea he will be adjudicated guilty and may thereby be deprived of certain federal benefits and certain rights, such as the right to vote, to hold public office, to serve on a jury, or to possess firearms,” Chick’s new plea agreement states.

Chick, after admitting his guilt in federal court in June, will again face McCafferty in Concord during a change of plea hearing on Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.

A status conference in Chick’s case scheduled for next Tuesday, Jan. 16 has been canceled, according to court records.

An affidavit filed in the case alleges the former bus driver gave several TracFones to the student, telling him to take inappropriate photographs of himself. The affidavit also states Chick placed tracking devices on the child’s parents’ vehicles, traveled to the family’s home at night and walked around the perimeter of the home.

Authorities' forensic examinations of Chick’s cell phone found he had images and videos of the child and his family he took at retail stores, theme parks, sporting events and on the school bus.

Chick was additionally accused of telling the boy a false story centered around a group of criminals supposedly called “The Team,” according to the affidavit. Chick told the child that the fake organization would kidnap and torture the boy and hurt his family if he didn’t take inappropriate photographs and videos of himself.

“Some of the communications that Chick relayed to John Doe 1 contained threats directed towards John Doe 1 and/or his John Doe 1 ’s family. One such note shown by Chick to John Doe 1 read: “I AM GOING TO RUN OUT OF MONEY. $1000 per week is what is keeping your family alive and together. And 1 will run out of money,’” the new plea deal reads. “Another note Chick showed John Doe I, which purported to be from the organization, read: “YOU HAD TOO MANY CHANCES THIS IS NOT WORKING WE ARE DONE (expletive) AROUND MAKE THIS HAPPEN NOW OR THE KID DISAPPEARS.’”

The parents of the child became suspicious of Chick and reported him to both the town school district and police department in April 2022, according to court documents.

“Chick’s course of conduct towards John Doe 1 caused substantial emotional distress to John Doe 1 and John Doe 1’s parents,” the new plea deal states.

Mirhashem, a federal public attorney, declined to comment on the new plea deal.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Michael Chick agrees to 9 years in prison for stalking Greenland boy