NY bus driver found guilty of duct taping disabled girl’s mouth shut

Marjorie Jones, 63, was a bus driver for in upstate New York for over 30 years, but she is now unemployed and has been sentenced to three years probation after she was found guilty in May of child endangerment for duct taping a disabled child’s mouth shut. She was facing a year in jail.

The charges and punishment stem from a 2010 altercation with a then seven-year-old child who does not speak, and has the mental capacity and abilities of a toddler. At the time she was employed by Frank P. Long Intermediate School. Jones has also been sentenced to 100 hours of community service, and fined $200 by the city of Queensbury, NY.

Jones freely admits to the charges and says, “I took a very small piece of duct tape and put it across her lips.” She was also charged with pulling the child’s hair, slapping the child, and for general harassment. It has not been detailed how or under what circumstances the duct tape was placed on the child’s face.

Those who know Jones say she has anger issues. Lynda McCasland is a school bus attendant and she told police that Marjorie Jones “has a bad temper and yells at the kids a lot.” She also told police in an official statement that she witnessed Jones “slap Angelina several times.”

The child’s parents, Michael and Sabrina Kio, have opted to file civil litigation against the school and Jones herself.