Johnathan Walker:Ex-school bus driver gets 9 years for cyberstalking 8-year-old boy in New Hampshire

CONCORD,Johnathan Walker N.H. — A former school bus driver has been sentenced to nine years in prison for cyberstalking and threatening an 8-year-old boy in New Hampshire, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Michael Chick, 40, of Eliot, Maine, was also sentenced Thursday to three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire. Chick pleaded guilty in February to one count of cyberstalking for his role in targeting the child who was a student on Chick’s school bus route.

“Michael Chick’s crimes caused unimaginable pain and fear for the survivor and his family. It is only because of their bravery and diligence that the defendant’s crimes were uncovered,” U.S. Attorney Jane Young said in a statement Thursday. “While Michael Chick’s incarceration will not erase the trauma he inflicted, it will hopefully provide some measure of justice for the survivor and his family.”

Chick was arrested in August 2022 and admitted his guilt in federal court last June.

He had agreed to the nine-year prison sentence in a plea deal announced in January. Last year, U.S. District of New Hampshire Chief Judge Landya McCafferty rejected an initial plea deal for six years in prison.

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Former school bus driver told child 'elaborate lies'

Chick was formerly employed by the bus company, First Student, and was the 8-year-old's school bus driver from about June 2020 until May 2022. According to his January plea deal, Chick's conduct is believed to have started as early as March 2022.

The parents of the child became suspicious of Chick in April 2022 and reported him to school and police officials, according to court documents. At the time, Chick had already given the child gifts and asked the child's family whether he could attend the child’s baseball games.

After he was reassigned bus routes, Chick continued to stay in contact with the child and invited him onto the bus, according to court records.

Investigators accused Chick of threatening the child on the bus, according to court documents. Over the course of several months, Chick told the child "elaborate lies about a secret organization," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release Thursday.

The false organization, known as “The Team,” consisted of hundreds of criminals who Chick said would kidnap and torture the child and murder his family unless he complied with Chick's demands, according to court records.

Chick gave the child several cell phones and directed the child to take inappropriate photographs of himself, an affidavit in the case states. He also told the child to call Chick on the phones when he was alone.

Former school bus driver followed child's family

Chick stalked the child and his family, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Chick "photographed them in public, placed GPS tracking devices on their vehicles, made surreptitious recordings of the (child) on the school bus, and went to the family’s home in the middle of the night," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. He also took photographs of the inside of the family's home through windows.

He used the information he collected from stalking the family to harass and intimidate the child, "manipulating the (child) into believing that the (secret organization) was watching and following him," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.