School Bus Driver Who Raped 14-Year-Old Girl Gets No Prison Time

A New York man was sentenced to 10 years probation but no prison time after pleading guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl he met while driving a school bus. The judge in the case defended his controversial ruling by pointing out that Piche had only raped one girl, rather than multiple.

Shane Piche reportedly met the victim through his job as a school bus driver in Watertown City School District in upstate New York last year. Piche, who is either 25 or 26 years old according to conflictingreports, raped the 14-year-old student at his home in June 2018 and was later arrested in September.

Piche was initially charged with second-degree rape, first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child by providing alcohol to the victim before the assault, according to Watertown Daily Times. The victim’s mother told local news station WWNY in February that Piche “bought her daughter gifts and invited her and other minors to his home where he gave them alcohol.”

Piche, who is no longer employed by the Watertown City school district, pled guilty to the lesser charge of third-degree rape in February. He was expected to be designated a Level 2 sex offender, which according to the state means there is a “medium risk of re-offense.” As a Level 2 offender, Piche’s address would have been available to the public.

Last week, Piche was sentenced to 10 years probation and designated a Level 1 sex offender by Judge James P. McClusky. Level 1 sex offenders are the lowest risk designation on the registry, and their addresses are not available to the public.

What would the Bible (Old Testament Law) do to punish this man? Incarceration? No. (There was no jail or prison in the Law of Moses, though there were cities of refuge.) Stoning? Probably not.

In Biblical times, assuming the girl was a willing participant, i.e. not kidnapped or forcibly raped, the man would be obligated to pay the girl’s dowry and marry her with no right to divorce ever. If the father of the girl did not consider the man suitable marriage material, the man would fined and / or punished in a way agreed to by the father and the judge. However, if the girl was kidnapped, forcibly raped, or was promised in marriage to another man, then this would be a capital offense. (Keep in mind that adultery and homosexual sex were also capital crimes.)

One extenuating factor in this particular case is that a school bus driver might be considered a position of authority, though not the same as a teacher, principal, counselor, etc. But this (apparently) statutory rape did not occur on school property or during school hours.

I’m going to go with the minority opinion and say the judge made a reasonable call based on his experience with much more serious crimes that deserve much more serious punishment. Time will tell if he appreciates the lenient sentence enough to turn his life around. Based on the idea that other young people were at his house, and sex and alcohol were involved, I’d say this guy was no Roy Moore, merely dating girls too young for him while looking for a wife. He might very well end up becoming a repeat offender. On the other hand, if the courts throw the book at every case we end up with prisons beyond capacity and the problems just get worse. He’s got a chance to turn his life around. I hope he does so.

I don’t agree with those here who think the death penalty or murder is warranted. I wonder if the same outlook would be applied no matter the age of the guy who the girl had sex with. If he was 18 should he be killed? How about 16? 14 (same age as she)? What if he was 13? Should she be killed if he was younger than her? What if the sexes were reversed?

Those who want to kill this guy are out of touch with the moral condition of our society. Teenagers are sneaking out, having “parties” that frequently involve drugs and sex orgies. They are getting these ideas from their peers who get them from movies, TV, books, music videos, and clubs/organizations promoting perversions like gay-straight alliance. A lot of folks are imagining a sweet, young, innocent teenage girl who got exploited and taken advantage of by an older, more experienced and savvy man. But this is probably not the case.

Like a lot of folks here suggest, the best way to protect children from the corruption of society is to remove them from public schools. Honestly, probably a lot of private schools are no better because our culture is so corrupt. Better monitor their use of TV and the Internet, and get connected with likeminded families who are also raising their sons and daughters in a similar way.

Young people should not be sexualized in the media because it invites incidences such as this due to normalizing this behavior. As a society we need to return to Biblical morality in which young people are strongly encouraged to wait for sex until marriage. This includes removing the constant sexualization of media in movies, TV, music, etc. And there needs to be some constructive encouragement for young people to get prepared for life as adults sooner in terms of understanding the responsibilities that go with independence. I think these things would make incidences like this much more rare.

“In this case there were multiple felonies, not just rape. Feedig alcohol to minors is not something to frown upon, especially when used to ‘drug’ a young victim.”

If he got her drunk I think it would be aggravated. Perhaps it was but the case might have got reduced due to a desire to spare the victim from having to testify. But I’m inclined to think this is not the case. There is a strong likelihood that the teens were looking for alcohol and drugs.

I’ve discussed this exact situation or very similar scenarios with eyewitnesses a number of times. There are guys like this who are welcomed by the teens who want to party because they cannot get alcohol on their own. In the little rural town I live in, high school teens are having such parties every weekend. There is a lot of drug and alcohol abuse. This type of crime happens all of the time, and usually the girl protects the guy so he is never prosecuted and the parents never even know about it.

I’ve talked with multiple parents, in fact one was a lady who was a bus monitor, who tolerate such parties where the parents often supply the alcohol but think it is safer if they make sure there is no drug use or drinking and driving. I know of one specific one where a teenage girl who was a friend of the family had a supposedly consensual sex encounter with an adult male. A guy I know essentially walked in on it, and he told me what happened. I wanted to have the perp brought up on charges, and I knew where he worked, but the girl had no interest in acknowledging anything happened, including even being at a party where there was alcohol. Personally, I have never been at such a “party” even when I was young.

The average FReeper is outraged (and rightly so), but if you talk to law enforcement you will discover that this stuff is happening all of the time. There is a limit to how much can be stopped or punished.

That’s why I say there must be a return to Biblical morality. We are living in a modern day Sodom. I think those who automatically see the girl as an innocent victim who was exploited are naive. That certainly could be the case, and that certainly happens, and worse. But there are also many teenagers actively seeking these things out. And this appears to be the case here. I think the guy should be punished, but I don’t think the death penalty or murder is warranted.

Either way, those who boast of what they would do if the girl was their daughter or granddaughter do not really know what they would do. This may have already happened to their daughter or granddaughter and they don’t even know it. And it may be why their daughter or granddaughter would never tell them. And if they found out and actually went through with murder, then their daughter or granddaughter would lose a father or grandfather and would be in worse danger. This is crazy-talk.

You have to exercise your legal options and be there to support the girl who was mistreated. And you let God worry about ultimate justice. Assumedly the girl is out of danger now.

A more severe sentence on this guy would result in the complete ruin of his life and any potential for him to become a productive citizen. I know a lot of people think that would be good, and it is possible that what he did was more severe than it even appears to be, but I personally doubt it. The reason is that if this was the more severe kind of rape (such as getting the girl drunk and assaulting her while she was passed out or semi-conscious) then the judge would know this from an affidavit and would probably not be lenient. The guy may not take advantage of this opportunity of the judge’s leniency, but it is there. If he repeats what he did, a judge will not be so lenient next time.

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