OAKLAND, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- A New Jersey school bus driver who pleaded guilty to molesting two children who rode his bus has been sentenced to at least 15 years of parole supervision, according to a report.
A judge on Thursday opted to sentence Oakland resident Thomas Thomasevich, 70, to parole supervision instead of imposing the three-year prison term prosecutors had requested, NJ.com reported.
Thomasevich will also be required to register as a sex offender and enroll in a sex offender treatment program, the outlet reported.
“Clearly [he] took advantage of his position. Kids on that bus trusted him,” the judge said during a virtual hearing, adding that Thomasevich “very wrongly and heinously” violated “a position of trust,” according to the outlet.
Thomasevich earlier this year pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child after he “admitted to touching two young students inappropriately over their clothes” while playing hide-and-seek with them on his bus, the outlet reported.
He also reportedly pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse and neglect for letting four children ride on his bus without wearing seat belts at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.