Former South Burlington school bus driver faces new sexual assault charges

A former Milton man who worked as a school bus driver in South Burlington until he was charged with sexually abusing two boys in 2021 is now on trial for abusing a third young man while he awaited trial on the earlier charges.

Jerry Normandin, 65, is also charged with aggravated sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct toward a child, according to a press release issued Tuesday by the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations.

Normandin is currently serving a 5- to 15-year sentence at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield after pleading guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child in August 2023. A more serious charge of sexual assault was dropped.

The new charges stem from a case first reported to Milton police and referred to CUSI last month. The victim was a minor when the alleged crimes began during Normandin's two-year wait for trial, the news release said.

Normandin was first arrested in July 2021 after Milton police referred a case to the Special Unit for investigation. Normandin was then charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young man at Normandin's home in Milton and sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy with developmental disabilities while Normandin was employed as a bus driver in South Burlington. He was placed on leave from the school district following his arrest.

At his first court appearance, Normandin was released on conditions to await trial, including a ban on him having contact with children under 18.

“It is worth noting that the abuse in this case continued after Normandin was conditionally released back into society by a judge following his arrest in 2021,” the Special Investigations Unit wrote in its press release. “The new victim in this current case was sexually abused throughout the two-year legal process until Normandin was sentenced to prison in August 2023.”

Investigators pointed out that Normandin is currently scheduled to be released from prison in less than two years after serving the three-year minimum sentence, which ranges from five to 15 years. He faces a life sentence if convicted of the sexual assault he was originally charged with.

Normandin was ordered to appear in court on September 19 on the new charges.