Etienne Kabongo, 67, a former school bus driver for Montgomery County Public Schools from Gaithersburg, was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing four passengers with special needs, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Kabongo was sentenced by Associate Judge David Lease at the Montgomery County Circuit Court, according to Lauren DeMarco, SAO’s director of public affairs. He received a sentence of 90 years, suspend all but 40 years, followed by five years of supervised probation.
One of Kabongo’s victims, a 12-year-old student, came forward in July 2018, according to officials. This led to police discovering school bus footage of three other victims also suffering abuse. DeMarco stated two of the four victims involved were 12 at the time while the others were 18 and 20.
Kabongo’s counsel had argued that he should not be held criminally responsible due to an alleged mental disorder, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office. However, a jury in February disagreed and found Kabongo responsible for two counts of second-degree rape and two counts of sexual abuse of a minor.
Kabongo’s listed attorney, James Shalleck, did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s request for comment.
