Former Virginia Beach school bus driver sentenced after admitting to transporting students while drunk
A former Virginia Beach school bus driver was sentenced Monday to 60 days in jail after he admitted to drinking rum while picking up and dropping off students last November.
Wayne Tomlin Jr., 54, pleaded guilty in Virginia Beach District Court to driving a commercial vehicle while intoxicated and consuming alcohol while transporting children, according to online court records. He pleaded no contest to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
In addition to ordering the jail time, District Judge Paul Merullo fined Tomlin $200.
The incidents happened Nov. 3. Tomlin drove the school bus to an ABC store that afternoon to buy a bottle of rum, and later headed to the Governor’s School for the Arts in downtown Norfolk to pick up students, according to Macie Allen, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
He drove most of the students to Plaza Middle in Virginia Beach, then took two directly to their homes, Allen said. Next, he drove to Lynnhaven Middle School to pick up more students.
It was there that another employee noticed Tomlin seemed intoxicated and stopped him from getting behind the wheel again, Allen said. The employee also contacted a supervisor who came to the scene and took Tomlin to get his blood alcohol tested.
The results showed Tomlin had a blood alcohol content of .14 percent, Allen said, which was over the legal limit of .08 percent. Camera footage recovered from inside the bus showed he’d been drinking directly from the rum bottle while behind the wheel, she said.
Tomlin had worked for Virginia Beach schools for more than 30 years but lost his job after his arrest, according to his attorney, Tate Westendorf. He worked primarily as a mechanic but filled in as a bus driver when needed, Westendorf said.
The defense lawyer said his client was very remorseful and cooperated fully with police.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
