School bus driver accused of assaulting girls

School officials in Two Harbors say they're shocked that the district's head janitor has been arrested, after allegedly sexually assaulting young girls on a school bus he drove for a nearby charter school.

And they fear there could be other victims. District superintendent Phil Minkkinen said the 62-year-old suspect has worked for the school district since 1971, and been a part-time bus driver for the district for at least the last four years.

"The assumption is that there may be more victims involved in this," Minkkinen said. "We have no indication that this was going on, but based on the nature of this conduct and the allegations of this sort of conduct, we need to be preparing for that."

Minkkinen said his staff had no indication that the suspect might have been a threat to kids.

"He was head custodian at this high school and the middle school before that, and there's people who have known him his whole time here and can't think of one thing that would suggest this was going on," he said.

The victims attended North Shore Community School, a Duluth charter school sponsored by the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. The school has about 280 students, and contracted with the Two Harbors district for bus services.

Police say four girls reported assaults by their bus driver.