Worcester School Bus Driver Arrested on Child Pornography Charges
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Reporter
For the second time in less than a week, a memo from the Superintendent’s office has revealed that a Worcester Public School employee has been arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.
Although the memo doesn't mention the employee by name, sources have told GoLocalWorcester that Liam Mallon, a bus driver for Worcester Public School children with special needs, was arrested and arraigned in late July on two counts of possession of child pornography.
According to Worcester Public Schools records, Mallon was appointed as an Aide to the Physically Handicapped on June 20, 2012.
In a memo sent on August 3 from Dr. Melinda Boone to WPS administration and School Committee members, Dr. Boone mentioned the arrest and like the memo from earlier this month, stated “At this time, the matter has not reached the media and we hope that it does not.”
In the memo, Dr. Boone wrote, "The driver is currently being held on bail and is not to have any unsupervised contact with children under 16. At this point, the investigation does not indicate any actions involving WPS students. The bus is a special education bus which means that a monitor is generally present. While we do not suspect any actions related to students, we will be initiating an investigation on behalf of WPS."
Dr. Boone went on to say that Mallon would receive a notice of suspension, and "under no circumstances will the driver be transporting children in the near future."
According to the memo, Mallon had passed a CORI check.
As GoLocalWorcester reported last week, Mallon is the second WPS employee arrested on child pornography since July. On September 2, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) which include Worcester Police Detectives, Massachusetts State Police Computer Crimes Unit, FBI and Homeland Security searched an apartment on Sterling Street as part of a child pornography investigation.
Alexander Johnson, 22, 43 Sterling Street, Apartment 1, Worcester, was charged with Possession of Child Pornography.
Johnson was employed by the city as a district-wide cafeteria helper substitute. He was officially hired on April 3, 2014. Johnson had been an employee with WPS for a year and had previously passed a CORI check.
In a communication from the Superintendent’s office on September 3, Dr. Melinda Boone wrote, “Under no circumstances will the employee be working in any of our schools in the near future. While we do not suspect any actions related to the students, we will be initiating an investigation on behalf of WPS.”
The email from Dr. Boone went on further to say, “At this time, the media has not reported that this gentleman was employed by WPS and we hope that it does not.”
In both instances, request for comment from the Superintendent's office were not immediately returned.