Second ex-Olympia school bus driver accused of sex abuse

A former Olympia School District bus driver has been arrested on charges of child rape and molestation in connection with the alleged assault of a 10-year-old boy.

50-year-old Jimmy Wall, of Centralia, was arrested Friday, as he was training to work for Intercity Transit. He had previously resigned from the Olympia School District in March. District staff said they did not know of the allegations until April.

A Thurston County judge set his bail at $300,000 on Monday.

Wall is accused of sexually assaulting a Madison Elementary student in 2007 and 2008 while he worked as a bus driver. The boy told detectives Wall sexually assaulted him on numerous occasions.

The warrant for Wall’s arrest stated that the victim spoke to police in April, telling them that Wall invited him to go geocaching at Lions Parks and LBA Park in Olympia.

Documents state: “the defendant drove a white van to [the victim’s] home on weekends or on the weekdays during the summer.”

The victim’s mother told police she remembers her son going on geocaching trips with Wall.

The victim also stated Wall would spend time with him on the Madison Elementary School campus where the victim attended the YMCA after-school program. He said Wall would frequently take pictures of the students, take the victim away from YMCA staff, and sexually assault him in a storage shed or in a dark stage area.

Witnesses told prosecutors they had seen Wall take the victim geocaching, and the victim’s mother also recalled seeing Wall at the YMCA after-school program.

Court documents state that another school bus driver colleague of Wall’s confirmed that the district owned several pool vans that were very easy to check out.

Wall’s family members attended Monday’s court hearing but did not wish to comment.

Wall is the former roommate of Gary Shafer, who is serving a 14 ½ -year prison term for sexually assaulting three Olympia girls while he worked as a bus driver.

Detectives talked to Shafer about Wall, and Shafer told them he recalled Wall would go geocaching with kids and found it “strange” that he would be alone with them. Shafer said he never went on these geocaching trips.

Heidi Magaro, a parent whose children attend Pioneer Elementary School, said district staff informed certain parents in April of a legal inquiry requiring the disclosure of the names of children who were riding Wall’s bus route.

Magaro said she asked about what was going on and was told the allegations were likely unfounded. Upon then hearing about Wall’s arrest and the court document accusations, she grew concerned about the schools’ transparency with parents.

“I think it's unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. It concerns me. In a community where we want to be able to send our kids on the bus, we want to have them walk and ride their bikes to school, it's very, very concerning,” Magaro said.

Cox Media Group