Magnolia – The Delaware State Police have arrested a 46-year-old Magnolia man after an investigation allegedly revealed that he endangered the welfare of several children and offensively touched another child while transporting them from school, according to Public Information Officer, Master Corporal Melissa Jaffe.
Jaffe said the incidences occurred on Tuesday, November 14, and Wednesday November 15, 2017, when the Lake Forest School District contacted the Delaware State Police after they viewed video surveillance of a van driver making inappropriate comments to the children on the van.
The suspect, a van driver for Beachy Transportation was identified as Jeffery L. Dennison, 46, of Magnolia. The Lake Forest School District contracts bus drivers from Beachy Transportation to transport their students, according to Jaffe.
Dennison was responsible for driving students that lived out of the school district to and from school. He picked up students at Lake Forest North Elementary, Lake Forest Central Elementary and WT. Chipman Middle School.
Through the video surveillance obtained from the van, it was discovered that while transporting the students home from school, Dennison would allegedly play “double-dare” and “truth or dare” with them, according to Jaffe.
At the time of these incidences, there were approximately five to six children on the van ranging from ages seven to thirteen. One of the children on the van “double dared” Dennison to pull the van over on the shoulder of the roadway, said Jaffe. It was discovered that on two different occasions while playing “double-dare”, Dennison pulled the van over on the shoulder of a busy roadway and had a child get out of the van, said jaffe. Dennison then drove away leaving the child to run after the van, aid Jaffe. It was also discovered that on one occasion, Dennison had pulled the van over and assaulted a nine year old student, according to authorities.
On Wednesday, November 6, 2017, Delaware State Police arrested Dennison and charged him with 11 counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of offensive touching on a child. Dennison was arraigned out of Justice of the Peace Court 2 and released on $6000.00 unsecured bond.
