Brevard school bus driver accused of passing out sexually graphic book
VIERA, Fla. - A Brevard County Public Schools bus driver was arrested for allegedly passing out a book that investigators say he authored which also contained sexually graphic content, including talk of rape and abuse.
According to a Brevard County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, 54-year-old Jimmy Tate gave a 9’th-grader who rode his bus a book he self-published and sold on Amazon, titled "Daddy’s Little Girl."
According to the affidavit, it was 94 pages front and back, eight chapters total and self-published.
Court records describe chapter one as including "a rape involving a male named ‘John’ and a woman named ‘Freda.’"
Chapter two detailed "a rape involving a male named ‘Randy’ and a three-year-old girl named ‘Tiny.’"
Chapter three detailed "'Uncle Randy' raping ‘Tiny.’"
According to the police, these chapters are obscene material according to Florida state statute. Parents are very disturbed.
"Makes me want to bring my kids back and forth to school. Especially because you don’t know what they are being exposed to. You have to worry about what the kids are doing and now you have to worry about a trusted adult? That doesn’t sit right with me," said Viera parent Taylor Bushry.
We reached out to Amazon for a statement, hoping to learn more about guidelines and regulations on their online books. We were told by a company spokesperson that the book has been removed from the site.
Brevard County Public Schools spokesman Russ Bruhn says Tate was hired by the school district in 2019. He says he was shocked to hear the allegations.
"Any bus driver, every bus driver does a background check. He passed his, his employee file has no issues, he has been with us only a short time, but he passed a check and it is not a case of him slipping through the cracks, it is the case of him being accused of doing something grossly inappropriate," Bruhn said.
Tate did post bond this afternoon and will be released from jail later this evening.
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