Crime & Safety
Bus Driver Accused Of Molesting Developmentally Disabled Rider
A Sonoma County Paratransit driver was arrested in connection with the sexual assault said to have occurred Jan. 16, according to police.
SANTA ROSA, CA — Santa Rosa police on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled woman on a Sonoma County Paratransit bus he was driving in January for a nonprofit organization. The alleged assault occurred Jan. 16 in the northeast area of Santa Rosa, police said.
Bus driver Jason Ray Dingus, 51, allegedly made inappropriate comments to the victim and touched her body over her clothing, according to police.
No other passengers were on the bus at the time, police said.
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Police learned about the alleged assault on Jan. 21.
Linda Jacobs, CEO of the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership, said Dingus drove the Sonoma County Paratransit bus for the center about five months and he was fired immediately after the allegations became known.
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A video taken on the bus corroborated the victim's account, and Dingus was arrested and booked into the county jail on suspicion of misdemeanor sexual battery, felony false imprisonment and felony sexual battery, police said.
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