Bus Driver Pleads No Contest to Sex Charge
A Laidlaw Transit school bus driver pleaded no contest to a charge he had sex with a 15-year-old Burbank girl he drove to classes for hearing-impaired junior high school students, authorities said Friday.
Manny G. Acosta, 33, of North Hollywood, entered the plea Thursday in Burbank Municipal Court in exchange for a promise from the district attorney’s office not to seek a sentence of more than 16 months in prison, prosecutors said. Sentencing is set for June 8. A Laidlaw spokesman said Acosta will be fired after the company is officially notified of his plea.
Police said the girl told investigators that she fell in love with Acosta after she began taking his bus in February. Police said Acosta and the girl engaged in sex in his van.
The plea was entered in a closed hearing after Judge Marion Gubler granted a defense request to exclude the public and the press from the courtroom to spare Acosta embarrassment, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Disco.
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