Victim awarded nearly $1.5M in school bus molestation case
OLYMPIA -- A jury awarded an Olympia girl and her mother more than $1 million on Friday in a civil trial stemming from a 2010 molestation case.
The family's attorney argued the Olympia School District failed to protect the girl from a former school bus helper who was convicted of sexually assaulting three young girls.
The school district claimed there was no way it could have known Gary Shafer was a risk, but the jury sided with the family and awarded the victim $1.45 million.
Shafer, who did not have a prior criminal record at the time of the molestation, began working for the district in October 2005.
Shafer was removed from his route in late 2010 after a parent first made the allegations. He resigned in January 2011.
In a Friday statement, the family's lawyer said the district worked hard to keep the molestation quiet to avoid embarrassment.
"Gary Shafer admitted to sexually assaulting 30 or more school children that the Olympia School District has done absolutely nothing to assist or even identify," said attorney Darrell Cochran. "The district won't truly be held accountable until all those kids who are suffering in silence are found and given some help."
Attorney Jerry Moberg represented the school district and said he was very surprised by the verdict.
"The jury has spoken," Moberg said. "While I disagree with the verdict, I respect it. The district will have to take a look at see what options are available to it."
It's unclear if the district will appeal the decision
The family's attorney argued the Olympia School District failed to protect the girl from a former school bus helper who was convicted of sexually assaulting three young girls.
The school district claimed there was no way it could have known Gary Shafer was a risk, but the jury sided with the family and awarded the victim $1.45 million.
Shafer, who did not have a prior criminal record at the time of the molestation, began working for the district in October 2005.
Shafer was removed from his route in late 2010 after a parent first made the allegations. He resigned in January 2011.
In a Friday statement, the family's lawyer said the district worked hard to keep the molestation quiet to avoid embarrassment.
"Gary Shafer admitted to sexually assaulting 30 or more school children that the Olympia School District has done absolutely nothing to assist or even identify," said attorney Darrell Cochran. "The district won't truly be held accountable until all those kids who are suffering in silence are found and given some help."
Attorney Jerry Moberg represented the school district and said he was very surprised by the verdict.
"The jury has spoken," Moberg said. "While I disagree with the verdict, I respect it. The district will have to take a look at see what options are available to it."
It's unclear if the district will appeal the decision
This is a sad case, there is no way for you to know who transports your child each day. But if this can help I found this site where you type the drivers name and you can read what other parents/students have to say about that driver, you ca also give the driver score and add comments, this can help reduce this things from happening. My advice to each parent is talk to your child and search for the driver at www.ratemybusdriver.com site is fairly new if you don't find your driver add him, to others can see your reviews.Â
What exactly is a bus "helper?"Â Sounds like another way schools waste money today.Â
Gross. Stop messing around, people. Grow up. You ought to be ashamed. BUT, I hear the Vatican is hiring.
I worked for OSPI over Washington schools. They require that any employee with unsupervised access to children be fingerprinted through the State Patrol and the FBI. A bus driver, janitor etc., are all under this status as they could be alone with a child even if for a moment. What more checking could a school district do to prevent this, this guy has a clean record! It is terrible, kills me at the thought any child go through this, but the blame lies with the sicko, not the SD. Asking them for a large amount of money when they did a very detailed background check, is just going to affect all the children because School districts are already on a very tight budget...just sad
"It's unclear if the district will appeal the decision"
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They better! That decision is BS! How could the school district have prevented this? Shame on those jurors.
 @Koawoodplayer So what? Shouldn't the school district be held responsible? I have never used any kind of legal action against anybody but this burns me up!
So, now a school district is out that much money? That only hurts the education funding that is already dismal.