Former bus driver hit with 14 years in prison for sexual abuse

CARMEL  NY – A retired bus driver was sentenced to  the maximum jail term possible last week for sexually abusing a 6-year-old girl that he was babysitting.

Michael Cunningham, a 68-year-old from Brewster, will spend 14 years behind bars, plus five years of post-release supervision for two counts of felony child sex abuse last Wednesday before Putnam County Supreme Court Judge James Rooney.

Cunningham,  was arrested in July 2014 and convicted in May.

“The sexual abuse of an innocent child is a truly abhorrent crime, and this sentence will ensure Michael Cunningham does not have an opportunity to victimize any other families,” Putnam County District Attorney Adam Levy said in a statement.

Cunningham a former Pawling resident worked as a bus driver in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, then later in the Brewster Central School District beginning in 2000. He retired in 2004.