Bus driver pleads guilty in sexting case

A Rose Valley man who was working as a school bus driver pleaded guilty Monday to invitation to sexual touching. Steven William MacLeod, 31, appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown where he pleaded guilty to the charge involving a student who used to ride on his bus.

The court heard Bluefield High School’s administration contacted the RCMP to make a complaint that one of its bus drivers had allegedly given students liquor at his home. When the police interviewed the victim, she told them MacLeod started making sexual comments to her several years earlier.

The victim said she flirted back because she liked the attention.

Crown attorney Cyndria Wedge said MacLeod and the victim exchanged contact information after he asked the girl if she would babysit his children.

The two started sending text messages to each other, and MacLeod would give the victim cigarettes at school.

At one point the victim sent MacLeod two or three photos of what she said were her breasts, but were actually pictures of people she found on Instagram. The court heard MacLeod later sent the victim messages asking her about her sex life, her sexual preferences and her sexual experiences.

In one message MacLeod asked the victim to have sex with him.

That same day the victim and a friend went to MacLeod’s home while his wife was away and he was there with his sleeping children. MacLeod gave the victim rum and cigarettes and offered her marijuana.

The victim and her friend only stayed at MacLeod’s home for a short time because his wife returned from work. Wedge told the court MacLeod acknowledged that as a school bus driver he was in a position of authority. MacLeod was suspended from his job as a school bus driver. He will be back in court March 15 for sentencing.

A publication ban prevents the release of any details that could identify the victim.