DENVER — A former school bus aide pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting three nonverbal students with autism who failed to report the abuse.
Kiarra Jones, 30, pleaded guilty to 12 charges as part of a plea agreement as she prepared to go to trial in suburban Denver. for abuses identified in 2024 through surveillance video from the bus, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Jones is represented by attorneys from the public defender's office, which does not comment on its cases to the media.
The abuse was discovered after Jessica Vestal, the mother of one of the nonverbal students, asked school officials to investigate surveillance video to try to explain a series of injuries her son, then 10, suffered after starting school early last year, including bruises all over his body and a black eye.
Jessica and her husband Devon Vestal said they were confused about whether their son understood why this happened.
“We are committed to making sure he understands how much he is loved,” Rathod Mohamedbhai, the law firm representing them and two other families, said in a statement.
Jones pleaded guilty to 10 counts of third-degree assault of an at-risk child and two counts of child abuse, 18th Judicial District Attorney Amy Padden said. She faces up to 15 years in prison on the charges, which were handed down March 18.
