Former Staunton bus driver sentenced for sex with teen

BY TONY GONZALEZ
Media General News Service
Published: November 14, 2008

Sentenced to three months in jail for having sex with a teen, a former Staunton bus driver has one week to report to Middle River Regional Jail and less than a month until a plea hearing for four more similar Augusta County charges.

Paula Tomlin, 37, agreed to what her defense attorney called an “eleventh-hour” plea agreement before appearing in a gray zip-up hooded sweatshirt Thursday in Staunton Circuit Court.

The agreement suspends most of a five-year sentence and includes three years’ probation on three charges of taking indecent liberties with a minor. Tomlin must undergo sex offender evaluation and is barred from having contact with the teen until he turns 18.

Authorities arrested Tomlin in May after an adult acquaintance reported her to Staunton school officials, who alerted police to seven sexual encounters between Tomlin and a 16-year-old Genesis Alternative Education School student.

The sexual encounters took place at Tomlin’s Orange Street apartment in Staunton and at the Folly Mills Waterfall, a scenic area near Mint Springs, according to authorities.

Tomlin was hired as a bus driver and assistant instructor at R.E. Lee High School in August 2006, and showed no signs of trouble, school officials said after her arrest.

Police collected explicit text messages between the pair and confessions of love. She resigned from her position before charges were filed.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Anne Reed opposed a request that Tomlin be allowed work release from prison. That request will be handled at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona. The three-month jail term falls within sentencing guidelines.

Tomlin is scheduled for a plea hearing Dec. 8 in Augusta County Circuit Court for four charges in relation to the Folly Mills encounters.