Cunningham
CARMEL – A former school bus driver from Brewster was sentenced to 14 years in state prison and five years of parole for two counts of felony child sex abuse.
Michael Cunningham, 68, was arrested in July 2014 following an investigation into the sexual abuse of a six-year-old child. He was sentenced in Putnam County Supreme Court following a jury trial in May.
Prosecutors argued that Cunningham worked to gain the trust of a child’s parents over a period of time, eventually offering to babysit.
Assistant District Attorney Danielle Pascale asked Justice James Rooney to impose the maximum sentence because Cunningham groomed and manipulated the child before abusing her.
The DA’s office said although Cunningham worked for a time as a bus driver in the Katonah-Lewisboro and Brewster school districts until he retired in 2004, this case is unrelated to that work.
