A former Olympia School District bus driver was arrested Friday and is charged with multiple counts of child rape and child molestation.
Jimmy W. Wall, 50, of Centralia is suspected of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy during and after the 2007-2008 school year. The boy was a Madison Elementary student, and Wall was his bus driver.
Wall is no longer employed by the school district, after resigning March 30 of this year, district spokeswoman Susan Gifford said.
Wall is charged in Thurston County Superior Court with four counts of first-degree child rape and two counts of first-degree child molestation. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.
Wall is the former roommate of Gary Shafer, who was convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting three Olympia girls while working as a bus driver — but he admitted to molesting as many as 30 girls. Shafer was sentenced to 14 1/2 years in prison, and is serving his sentence at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen.
According to court documents, the victim reported that he became close to Wall during the school year, and Wall invited him to go geocaching at Lions Park and LBA Park. Wall allegedly picked up the child in a white van on weekends and on weekdays during the summer.
The two would go to secluded areas of the woods where Wall would allegedly sexually assault the boy. The boy said Wall had sex with him on more than 10 occasions.
The boy told detectives that he was part of the YMCA after-school program at Madison Elementary, and that Wall was frequently present, according to court documents. The boy said Wall would take him to a storage shed and touch his genitals under his clothes. He also alleged that Wall would sexually assault him near the school’s stage area, where it was dark.
The boy’s mother confirmed some of his statements; she said she remembered Wall taking her son geocaching and remembered seeing him at the after-school program, according to court documents.
A detective went to Stafford Creek Corrections Center and talked to Shafer, who said he remembered Wall taking children geocaching — and remembered him taking the boy specifically on several occasions.
Shafer said he found it “strange” that Wall was alone with children, according to court documents.
The Olympia School District has faced multiple civil suits after Shafer’s case, with the most recent being filed in February. One family settled their lawsuit for $1.4 million.
