PSD paraprofessional is accused of assaulting 6 at-risk students, faces nearly 130 charges

Kelly Lyell, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Updated ·4 min read

The Poudre School District paraprofessional previously charged with assaulting an at-risk kindergartner on a school bus is now accused of assaulting a total of six students, all with disabilities.

Tyler Zanella, 36, was arrested May 24 on the initial charges involving the at-risk kindergarten student, including three counts of third-degree felony assault against an at-risk person. He was fired that day by PSD, a district spokesperson confirmed.

He now faces nearly 130 charges, including 30 felony charges, following a review of video surveillance by Fort Collins police detectives and district officials of routes he worked during the school year, police announced Wednesday.

Fort Collins police say multiple additional assaults and five additional victims, all discovered to be at-risk due to their disabilities, were discovered during that investigation. Parents of those students were notified Tuesday, and the Larimer District Attorney’s Office accepted and filed the additional charges Wednesday.

They include:

  • 30 counts of third-degree assault against an at-risk person, a Class 6 felony

  • 49 counts of misdemeanor child abuse

  • 49 counts of misdemeanor harassment

During a hearing last week regarding the initial charges filed against Zanella, Larimer County Court Judge Michael M. Schwartz set Zanella’s bond at $5,000 and issued a protection order restricting Zanella from visiting any elementary school, including that of his own children. The judge noted during the virtual court appearance that police suspected there were additional students who could be victims.

Court records show Zanella posted bond later that day and was released before returning to the Larimer County Jail on Monday to serve a 12-day sentence in an unrelated case. He was listed as an inmate at the jail Wednesday afternoon, when police announced the filing of the additional charges.

Zanella had worked as a paraprofessional bus assistant tasked with assisting bus drivers for PSD since Aug. 29, 2022, spokesperson Emily Shockley wrote last week in an emailed response to questions from the Coloradoan. A summary of his job description provided by the district reads: "Minimize driver distractions and assist with ensuring students are safe during the loading, unloading, transporting, and transferring on buses."

Tyler Zanella
Tyler Zanella

In an email to parents Wednesday afternoon, PSD said district staff had reviewed 190 hours of footage of Zanella on bus route No. 2253, the route the initial student was on when three previous assaults were alleged to have occurred. Staff recorded clips of video showing other possible instances of misconduct, the email read, and shared those with law enforcement. The additional charges involving other children came from a review of those clips, PSD said, and the route served multiple schools.

There is no other video footage available of Zanella working on PSD buses, the district said.

The Wednesday email went to staff and parents and guardians of all students at Bacon and Shepardson elementaries, PSD's transportation staff, and parents and guardians of students who rode on any of the nine routes Zanella worked on, Shockley said.

“This traumatic situation represents the exact opposite of everything we stand for," PSD Superintendent Brian Kingsley said in the email. "We are heartbroken for those impacted and committed to supporting the investigation by police to ensure the suspect is held accountable."

Zanella worked on nine different bus routes during the 2022-23 school year, Shockley said previously, many of which served multiple schools. Those routes were Nos. 2029, 2030, 2090, 2253, 2305, 2301, 2311 and 2312.

A Friday email, shared with the Coloradoan, went to staff of other schools served by those routes: at Bacon, Bamford, Bethke, Cache la Poudre, Kruse, Linton, Riffenburgh, Shepardson, Timnath and Werner elementaries; Blevins, Kinard, Preston and Webber middle schools; Timnath Middle-High School; Fossil Ridge and Rocky Mountain high schools; Community Connections; and Cooper Home.

Zanella had previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of negligent child abuse in Adams County in 2012, court records show. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation, which was later reduced to 13 months.

The Coloradoan has requested the arrest reports in that case but has not received anything as of 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Last week the Coloradoan learned most of the court documents in that case had been destroyed. There was no reply to a follow-up email explaining why.

9News, citing documents it obtained from that case, reported Wednesday that Zanella was found to be intoxicated while taking care of a young child while the child's mother was away.

PSD received a full background check on Zanella before he was hired, Shockley said, and he was asked about the child-abuse misdemeanor on his record before he was hired. PSD obtained the arrest report from that case, she said Thursday, and determined that the details matched Zanella's explanation. Another charge related to that incident was dismissed by the district attorney, court records show.

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: Fort Collins police say PSD employee assaulted at least 6 students