Man charged with lewd conduct was a school bus driver in Meridian

The 56-year-old Meridian man arrested Tuesday on lewd conduct charges worked as a school bus driver for special-needs students in the West Ada School District. But his victim was not one of his passengers, police and district officials said.

Scott Hixon faces multiple charges of sexually abusing a girl under the age of 16 over a period of about a year and a half, said Tracy Basterrechea, deputy chief of the Meridian Police Department. Online court records show eight felony lewd conduct charges in the case.

“We do believe we only have the one victim,” Basterrechea said Friday. “It was not one of the students he drove.”

Hixon drove two routes with a total of 24 special-needs students, West Ada spokesman Eric Exline said. Cascade Student Transportation, which operates buses for the district, is in the process of notifying the parents of all of those students.

Hixon no longer works for the bus company, Exline said Friday.

He stressed that bus drivers for special-needs students are never alone with the students, because adult aides are on board to help the students.

In April, a 24-year-old aide on a West Ada special-needs bus was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a vulnerable adult in connection with a woman he reportedly met at church. Kevin Setter’s case is still pending in court, according to online records.

Basterrechea said that arrest and Hixon’s are the only such cases he has heard of in 19 years with the district.

In the Hixon case, the reported victim told a family member about the alleged abuse. The family member then told co-workers, who reported it to police on June 19, police said.

Each count of lewd conduct with a child younger than age 16 is punishable by up to life in prison.

Hixon remained in the Ada County Jail Friday afternoon. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing July 12, at which a judge will decide if the case should advance to district court and a full trial.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Man charged with lewd conduct was a school bus driver in Meridian."