Former school bus driver charged with sexual battery | Crime

CLINTON, MS (WLBT) - A former Clinton school bus driver has been charged with sexual battery.

Hinds County Sheriff's Department Lieutenant Jeffrey Scott says 69-year-old Shepard Ray Havens, who is also known as “Mr. Billy,” was arrested by the sheriff’s department’s Child Protection Unit and charged with four counts of gratification of lust and one count of sexual battery Wednesday.

Havens allegedly sexually assault a 12-year-old child, while he was a school bus driver with the Clinton Public School District, Scott said.

The school district said in a statement Wednesday, the district was notified Friday that one of its driver had been accused of “making inappropriate comments and inappropriate physical contact with a fifth-grade student.”

Beginning Monday morning, the driver was placed on unpaid leave, according to the statement.

Wednesday, after Havens was arrested, he resigned from his position with the Clinton Public School District, according to the statement from CPSD.

Havens is being held at the Hinds County Detention Center. No bond has been set.

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