Police: Utah bus driver arrested after groping student who stepped off school bus

SALT LAKE CITY — A Granite School District bus driver has been arrested on investigation of sexual battery after he allegedly groped a boy who had gotten off of a school bus, according to a jail report.

August Shell, 21, was arrested Wednesday. Shell allegedly approached a 16-year-old boy after he got off of a school bus and asked the boy if he wanted to smoke, the report states.

The boy thought that Shell was a law enforcement officer and told Shell “no.” Shell then allegedly touched the boy’s genitals over his pants and then ran back to the school bus and drove away, according to the report.

The incident took place at about 9 a.m. near 1332 W. 4800 South in Taylorsville, according to an emailed statement from Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley.

Shell later admitted to officers that he had touched the teenager, the jail report said. He was booked in Salt Lake County Jail at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.

He had been a substitute bus driver with the district since Nov. 27, 2017, according to Horsley. He has resigned from the job.

There was no indication that any other students had been touched inappropriately, Horsley said.

“However, the district and law enforcement are concerned that other teenage males may have been approached and, in the interest of student safety, have reached out to parents in the neighboring areas with a photo of the suspect asking for any information of inappropriate conduct,” Horsley said in the statement.

Granite School District police have formed a task force with other local agencies to continue investigating the case.