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School Bus Driver Charged With Child Sexual Abuse

SCRANTON — A bus driver for the Scranton School District is behind bars tonight accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy for almost a de...

SCRANTON -- A bus driver for the Scranton School District is behind bars tonight accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy for almost a decade.

Scranton Police said they have strong evidence to suggest he's abused other boys too.

The bus driver, Pat Cahill of Scranton, has worked for the private school bus company DeNaples Transportation since 2011. Scranton Police are trying to identify other potential victims, but they said they don't think Cahill had any inappropriate contact with the children he drove to and from school.

This all came to light when a now 27-year-old man came forward saying he had a nine-year sexual relationship with Cahill when he was a teen.

The alleged victim told police Pat Cahill first molested him in 1999 when he was only 12. He said it happened at an apartment house on Cedar Avenue in south Scranton. He said the alleged abuse continued for nine more years.

Scranton Police charged Pat Cahill with child sex abuse charges Tuesday night. He is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of a child.

"At this point, all the charges involve one victim. Obviously with Mr. Cahill's current employment as a bus driver, the investigation will continue to see if there are any other victims out there," said Lackawanna County Deputy District Attorney Jennifer McCambridge.

Though investigators said the abuse of this victim stopped in 2008, Scranton Police have strong evidence that Cahill continued abusing boys. But, not children he met on his bus route.

Cahill drives a school bus for students at All Saints Academy in Scranton, and West Scranton Intermediate School.

He worked at DeNaples Transportation, a private company in west Scranton that contracts with the Scranton School District. Bus company officials wouldn't talk on camera with Newswatch 16 but said Cahill passed all necessary background checks and took required child abuse prevention classes.

That was the most unsettling part of the story for parents Newswatch 16 met picking up kids at west Scranton intermediate.

"To fall through the cracks like that, I don't understand, I just don't, but I wouldn't want my kids riding the bus," said Jamie Petorak of Scranton.

Scranton School District Superintendent Bill King said, because of recent changes in child abuse laws, Pat Cahill is a mandated reporter of child abuse because he is a school bus driver. King said Cahill has been suspended without pay from the bus company.

Cahill is currently locked up in the Lackawanna County prison on $20,000 bail.

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