Valley Stream bus driver charged with rape of student faced prior sex abuse allegation, records show

A school bus driver charged with raping a 16-year-old Valley Stream student last year faced an allegation of sexually abusing a minor a decade earlier and had to complete a sex offender program, a Newsday investigation found.

Records provided by the Valley Stream Central High School District do not show that officials approved his hire or knew about his past, even though state education regulations require districts to sign off annually on their bus drivers, including those employed by private contractors.

Giovanny Campos, 51, drove for Cheese Bus Inc., which had a contract to transport district English Language Learner students. 

The Queens-based company hired Campos in 2022 off a job application and resume that listed no references or work experience within the previous 17 years, according to information obtained by Newsday from the school district through the state Freedom of Information Law.

Campos, of Jamaica, Queens, is awaiting trial in Nassau County Court on felony charges of second-degree kidnapping, third-degree rape, two counts of a third-degree criminal sex act and endangering the welfare of a child. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $150,000 cash bail.

The resume provided by Valley Stream lists Campos' last job as an inspector with New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2005.

But he had been fired in 2015 from a position as a New York City correction officer because of the prior sexual abuse charge, filed in 2014, according to public records discovered by Newsday.

A Queens court dismissed and sealed that criminal case after he completed the sex offender program, but its details remain available online in a city administrative judge’s court decision on his termination. 

Valley Stream district officials, despite a public records request, did not provide Newsday with documents showing they followed the state regulations on Campos' hire.

The regulations require superintendents to affirmatively approve the hiring of all bus drivers they use, as well as to review multiple statements attesting to their “moral character.”

New York State Department of Education regulations say that school bus drivers must furnish three references and be approved by a school district's superintendent.

Valley Stream Central High School District Superintendent Wayne Loper declined to answer specific questions about the district’s process for approving contracted bus drivers.

“The District does not comment on pending litigation,” Loper said in a statement, referring to a lawsuit filed in March by the parents of the alleged rape victim, accusing Nassau County, the district and Cheese Bus of negligence and failure to perform “adequate and proper” background checks.

A lawyer for Cheese Bus told Newsday that the company met all its background check responsibilities under state law.

'Very similar history'

Campos wasn’t convicted in the New York City criminal case and therefore didn’t need to disclose it on the state's standard application for licensed bus drivers, which asks only for any convictions.

New York lacks specific laws such as Pennsylvania has, where schools and their contractors since 2014 have been required to have applicants for all jobs involving direct contact with children answer whether they've ever been subject of abuse or sexual misconduct investigations or lost a job as a result.

Experts in law, education and employee backgrounding questioned whether New York regulations require enough scrutiny of public school bus drivers, particularly those employed by private contractors.

“That sort of thing [sexual abuse allegations] should show up on a thorough background screening and employment verification by a new employer — especially one that deals with the very important responsibility of conveying children to school,” said Melina Healey, a Touro Law Center associate professor and director of its Education Justice Clinic.

Michael Brown, an executive with Amerisearch Background Alliance, an Ohio-based background check company that has worked for schools in other states, told Newsday the type of services his company provides, including internet and social media searches, likely would have turned up the public document detailing Campos' 2015 firing on sexual abuse charges.

"That should or would show up," Brown said.

Prosecutors say Campos sexually abused the Valley Stream girl on his bus route multiple times from January to June 2023, including in a parking lot on his bus and in his apartment. They accused him of threatening to kill the girl's family members if she didn't comply, according to a motion filed with the criminal case.

Nassau police arrested him that September, and a grand jury indicted him in November.

“This defendant does have prior history, very similar history, which is of public record, of abusing a 16-year-old,” Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Letitia Pierre told a judge in May.

Records provided to Newsday by the state Department of Motor Vehicles show Campos initially received state certification as a school bus driver in 2017. Tim O'Brien, a DMV spokesman, said in a statement that Campos was fingerprinted at that time "and the background check found no disqualifying convictions," but noted because of the way his prior case was settled, "such [an] incident would not show up on a background check."

On a 2020 state certification application, Campos listed having worked as a field supervisor with multiple transportation companies in the previous three years. The document does not indicate whether he transported children in those roles and whether the companies contracted with public schools. 

Prior to being hired by Cheese Bus, Campos in 2022 filled out a new DMV bus driver application and listed no prior employment for the previous three years, according to a copy provided by Valley Stream in Newsday's records request.

Campos also left the “most recent employment” and references portion of his Cheese Bus job application blank, and on the resume he listed no work experience after 2005, the records show.

Before 2005, Campos' resume had detailed the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission inspector job and a stint as a commercial bus driver from the late 1990s to early 2000s, including for the city's Department of Correction.

His later time as a correction officer, beginning in November 2005, didn’t appear on that resume.

New York City arrest

According to termination hearing testimony, Campos was in his early 40s and working at Rikers Island when he met a 16-year-old girl at a house party in December 2013. Prosecutors said he knew her age when he took her to his apartment and engaged in “inappropriate sexual conduct.”

NYPD detectives arrested Campos in January 2014 and charged him with third-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, records show. Campos said the girl said she was 18.

The criminal case was settled in January 2015 by a disposition of “adjournment in contemplation of dismissal,” or ACD.

In such cases, if a defendant meets certain conditions within a fixed period of time — in this case  6 months — criminal charges are dismissed and sealed from public court records. A defendant can legally say he or she wasn’t convicted, but often agree to conditions that otherwise come with guilty pleas.

Campos’ adjournment came with an order of protection preventing him from having contact with the girl and a requirement to attend a sex offender program for 6 months, according to the transcript of his March 2015 city correction department termination hearing.

During that hearing, Shirley Irick, the attorney representing the correction department, asked him, according to the transcript: “Mr. Campos, you agree[d] to attend [a] sex offender program, correct?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“And that program consisted of you going to a therapy session? 

“Yes.”

“And that therapy session included you discussing sex offender conduct?” Irick asked.

“Yes,” Campos replied.

[Campos’] sexual encounters with a young girl display a disturbing lack of self-control ... he is a liability to the Department and cannot be trusted to supervise and interact with adolescent or female inmates.

—New York City Administrative Law Judge Alessandra Zorgniotti's ruling in March 2015

Following the testimony, Administrative Judge Alessandra Zorgniotti issued a ruling in March 2015 recommending correction officials fire Campos for violating professional conduct codes.

“[Campos’] sexual encounters with a young girl display a disturbing lack of self-control,” she wrote. “Respondent has demonstrated that he is a liability to the Department and cannot be trusted to supervise and interact with adolescent or female inmates.”

Campos was fired in June 2015, according to a later state Appellate Division decision that upheld the termination.

District approval required

The state education regulations require school superintendents to annually approve each bus driver used by the district, after reviewing "at least three" statements from persons not related to the driver that pertain to his or her "moral character" and reliability.

"Superintendents hold ultimate approval over school bus drivers that work for their school district," said David Christopher, executive director of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation, which lobbies on behalf of bus companies and its employees. "And annually, they are required to approve school bus drivers," he said.

Jericho schools Superintendent Henry Grishman, speaking generally, said he is aware of the state education regulations. Each year, he said, his district transportation director would collect bus driver character references, review them and submit a list of names for his approval.

“Then, in effect, I signed approvals for each of them,” Grishman said.

The 4,500-student Valley Stream Central High School District had been a part of a consortium of other districts that, for several years, had a contract with Cheese Bus to conduct some specialized transportation of students, records show.

Contract bid specifications said all drivers "must be approved for employment by the School District."

Superintendents hold ultimate approval over school bus drivers that work for their school district. 

—David Christopher, executive director of the New York Association for Pupil Transportation

Cheese Bus, the bid documents show, cited previous work done for smaller, private schools in Queens. A review of lawsuits against the company show various actions related to traffic accidents but none involving allegations of driver misconduct.

Company CEO Malik Turnage didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment. Ezra Salami, a Brooklyn-based lawyer for the company, said in an interview Campos passed the criminal background check required by the state for all commercial bus drivers.

“We complied with state law, to answer your question as it relates to any background checks,” he said. “And that's all that we have to say about that."

Valley Stream Central High School District ended its contract with Cheese Bus at the end of last school year, Loper said in a statement. The district last year had nine other transportation companies under contract.

After Campos’ arrest, district officials made no public statements that indicate it reviewed or altered any of its transportation policies.

Turnage, however, posted a statement on Cheese Bus’ website that noted the company was “internally deliberating new additional safety and security measures” such as live-feed cameras on its buses and randomized mid-route checks on drivers.

He also wrote: “Background checks above and beyond the state requirements.”