School bus aide assaulted 6-year-old on ride home: Charges

WOODBURY, Minn. (FOX 9) - A school bus aide from St. Paul is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct after a 6-year-old reported being groped by him on a ride home.

‘Weirded out’ by behavior

What we know:

Charges say that on Oct. 22, 2024, officers from the Woodbury Police Department responded to a report of criminal sexual conduct that was alleged to have occurred on a school bus that was transporting a child who resides in the 10500 block of Hawthorn Trail around 4:30 p.m.

Upon arrival, police spoke with a woman who said her 6-year-old son had been expressing dislike of riding the bus home for several weeks.

The woman who told police that her son said a bus aide, later identified as Raymond Matthew Cook, 52, was sitting near him when he touched his penis over his clothing for several seconds on the bus ride home on Oct. 22, 2024.

Officers interviewed the driver of the bus at the time, who said he saw Cook sitting near the child and whispering a conversation and was "weirded out" by his behavior.

Bus surveillance

Dig deeper:

When investigating the incident, police reviewed the surveillance footage and found that on the day the incident was reported Cook was sitting next to the child, who at one point makes a screeching sound – he then turns his body away and says "it's your fault," according to charges.

What we don't know:

Police have not identified the school district in which the bus was associated with.