Bus driver who admitted to raping 14-year-old girl gets probation, no jail time

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (FOX 13) - A former school bus driver who admitted to raping a 14-year-old girl will not spend any time behind bars.

The Watertown Daily Times reports that 26-year-old Shane Piche was sentenced to 10 years of probation after pleading guilty to third-degree rape.

He will also be registered as a Level 1 sex offender, which is considered low risk of re-committing the crime and is not included in online sex offender databases.

The judge said he gave Piche the lower-level designation because he had no prior arrests and there was only one victim.

New York State Police said Piche met his victim when he drove her school bus. However, he reportedly raped the girl at his home after giving her alcohol.

"He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. He's on the sex offender registry for a long time. Maybe not the rest of his life because of the level, but this isn't something that didn't cause him pain and this isn't something that didn't have consequences," Eric Swartz, Piche's defense attorney, told WWNY.

Piche was also ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

The victim's mother released a statement to WWNY, saying, "I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child. He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety."

FOX 13 reported on this story from Tampa.