Ex school bus aide pleads guilty to assaulting autistic students

DENVER (AP) — A former school bus aide pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting three nonverbal students with autism who were unable to report the abuse.

Kiarra Jones, 30, entered guilty pleas to 12 charges under a plea agreement as she was about to go on trial in suburban Denver for abuse that was revealed in 2024 by bus surveillance video, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Jones is represented by lawyers from the public defender’s office, which does not comment to the media on its cases.

The abuse was discovered after Jessica Vestal, the mother of one of the nonverbal students, asked school officials to review the surveillance video to try to explain a series of injuries her son, then 10, suffered after going to school early last year, including bruises all over his body and a black eye.

Jessica and her husband, Devon Vestal, said they are haunted by whether their son understands why it happened.

“We are committed to making sure that he understands how deeply he is loved,” they said in statement released by the law firm representing them and the two other families, Rathod Mohamedbhai.

Jones pleaded guilty to 10 felony counts of third-degree assault of an at-risk child and two misdemeanor counts of child abuse, the office of 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden said. She faces up to 15 years in prison for the felony counts at sentencing set for March 18.