{"id":181354,"date":"2026-03-06T22:27:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181354\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:27:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:27:06","slug":"st-lucie-county-school-bus-driver-accused-of-molesting-a-9-year-old-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181354\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Lucie County school bus driver accused of molesting a 9-year-old student"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 After a 9-year-old reported a bus driver&#8217;s lewd demands, deputies arrested the 71-year-old and are now asking for any additional tips.<\/p>\n<p>A school resource deputy with the St. Lucie County Sheriff&#8217;s Office said they received a report that a bus driver with St. Lucie County Schools, later identified as 71-year-old Edwin Garcia, had asked a 9-year-old student to lift her dress for him while she was on the bus.<\/p>\n<p>The deputy reportedly immediately investigated, finding evidence that inappropriate comments were also made toward the child, and that Garcia had possibly pinched her over her clothing in the pelvic area.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/man-arrested-after-swat-standoff-held-without-bond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Man arrested after allegedly firing at police in SWAT standoff held without bond<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The case was passed along to deputies with the SLCSO Criminal Investigations Division, who arrested Garcia on Friday for two counts of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation of a Victim Under the Age of 12 by an Offender 18 Years of Age or Older.<\/p>\n<p>Deputies say Garcia was transported to St. Lucie County Jail for processing.<\/p>\n<p>The case remains active at this time. Anyone with information is urged to contact that detective on the case at (772) 462-7300 or email <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/mailto:CrimeTips@Stluciesheriff.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CrimeTips@Stluciesheriff.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 After a 9-year-old reported a bus driver&#8217;s lewd demands, deputies arrested the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-181354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}