Published: October 13, 2008 08:00 pm      

Former school bus driver goes to prison

Man convicted on child porn, CSC charges

BELLAIRE -- A former Alba school bus driver is off to prison following his conviction on child pornography and criminal sexual conduct charges.

Thirteenth Circuit Judge Thomas G. Power last week sentenced Kenneth Ray Bigger to a maximum of four years in prison on one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person between 13 and 16, and one count of possession of child sexually abusive materials.

Bigger, 54, pleaded guilty last month. In exchange for the plea, Antrim County Prosecutor Charles Koop dismissed four additional counts of possession of child sexually abusive materials, one count of using a computer to commit a crime and three additional fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct counts.

Koop contends the plea doesn't let Bigger off easy because of state guidelines that call for concurrent prison sentences.

"If he had been convicted on all of them ... he would have served all his time together," he said.

Bigger, who worked in several positions at Alba Public School for about eight years, resigned shortly after being charged with the criminal sexual conduct counts in May. Those charges stem from multiple incidents with a female student in March.

Bigger met the student while working for the school, but the incidents happened at Bigger's Alba home.

Antrim sheriff's deputies searched his computer while investigating the initial complaint and discovered more than 1,000 child porn pictures.

Some of the pictures were of children as young as three, Koop said.

Bigger didn't have a "public criminal history," Koop previously said. He and other school district employees underwent multiple background checks prior to the charges, school officials said.

Lori Sheridan, owner of the Green Lantern Bar on U.S. 31 in Alba, said the community was "shocked and surprised" upon hearing of the charges against Bigger.

"I didn't hear someone say 'Oh, geez, we knew that all along,'" she said. "He was somebody that everybody trusted."

Sheridan said the case stresses the importance of careful scrutiny of school employees.

"Confidence in the school system directly relates to whether or not they screen people in that type of job," she said. "If you're going to be trusted with our kids, you need to be squeaky clean."