School bus driver stalked 8-year-old boy, put GPS trackers on parents’ cars, feds say
A school bus driver accused of stalking and threatening an 8-year-old boy kept tabs on his parents with magnetic GPS trackers placed on both of their cars in New Hampshire, according to federal prosecutors.
The driver, Michael Chick, 39, of Maine is also accused of telling the boy that “The Team” would kidnap and torture him, as well as hurt his family, if he didn’t give into the group’s demands, which included sending photos of himself.
The tracking devices informed him the parents had repeatedly visited the Greenland police station where they reported the driver had given the boy and his sister gifts, including candy, and left letters at their home saying he missed the children, court documents state.
Now Chick faces an interstate stalking charge after admitting to investigators he threatened the Greenland Central School student who he drove on his bus route, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire.
Chick appeared in court on Aug. 8 and the court ordered he be detained until an Aug. 18 detention hearing, a Justice Department news release says.
McClatchy News contacted Chick’s attorney who said “I have no comment” in a statement on Aug. 10.
In April, the boy’s parents first reported their concerns about Chick to Greenland Central School after he allegedly gave their children gifts and left letters at their home when they were absent, court documents show.
The parents also reported Chick told the boy and his sister where he kept his own home key hidden and as a result, the sister shared where the family hid their key, an affidavit attached to the complaint states.
After the parents reported Chick had asked to attend their son’s Little League baseball game in May, a school resource officer told the bus driver that he could no longer contact the boy or the family, according to the affidavit.
On July 2, the boy’s parents arrived at the Greenland police station to report they had found two Tracfone cell phones hidden in a lunchbox in the child’s closet that Chick had given him, the affidavit states. In an interview, the boy told officers Chick had called the child over to his bus and given him the phones.
Roughly two weeks later, police obtained and reviewed video and audio of conversations between Chick and the boy on the bus between May and June, according to investigators.
Police discovered that, on May 13, Chick had told the boy he had been paying the group he called “The Team” $1,000 to hold them off from hurting him. He offered the boy a cell phone, according to court documents.
Eventually, a search warrant of Chick’s home in Eliot, Maine, revealed notes written on school bus student permission slips, including one that stated: “I am going to run out of money. $1,000 per week is what is keeping your family alive and together,” the affidavit shows.
At Chick’s home, investigators also found more notes and instructions, “as if written directly to (the boy),” to take photos and videos of himself on the phone, according to the affidavit.
On Chick’s computer, authorities found digital notes, including one that said “YOU HAD TOO MANY CHANCES… MAKE THIS HAPPEN NOW OR THE KID DISAPPEARS,” court documents state.
Meanwhile, other investigators executed a search warrant of Chick’s car and found “a TracFone, a digital camera, duct tape, rubber gloves, sweet (candy) liquor, candy, children’s clothing including underwear, children’s toys, a magnetic GPS vehicle tracker along with his T-Mobile cell phone,” according to court documents.
Afterward, during an interview with investigators, they say, Chick admitted he gave the boy three different phones, showed the child the digital note on his computer, tracked his parents, and had visited the family’s home roughly 10 times at night among other admissions. Chick refused to share more information, the affidavit says.
As a bus driver, Chick was assigned to different routes for Greenland Central School, according to the news release.
The school district’s superintendent, Stephen Zadravec, told McClatchy News in a statement that Chick was employed by First Student, which is a company the school contracts for bus services.
In a provided letter sent to families informing that Chick is facing a federal charge, Zadravec said Chick no longer works for First Student.
“We will continue to work with the Police Departments and our bus company on steps to ensure the safety of our students,” Zadravec wrote in the letter.
Greenland is roughly 50 miles east of Concord.
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