New Hampshire

NH School Bus Driver Accused of Stalking, Threatening 8-Year-Old Boy

Michael Chick, a 39-year-old New Hampshire school bus operator from Eliot, Maine, is accused of threatening a child attending the Greenland Central School

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A New Hampshire school bus driver from Eliot, Maine, is facing federal charges after allegedly stalking and threatening an 8-year-old boy.

Michael Chick is accused of threatening a child attending the Greenland Central School, an elementary and middle school in Greenland, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire said Monday. He drives a bus in that community and in Rye.

Chick was arrested Friday evening in Eliot. He appeared in federal court in New Hampshire on Monday, and he was ordered to remain in custody pending a detention hearing on Aug. 18.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in New Hampshire, Chick gave the boy two prepaid cellphones in a Pokemon lunch box.

Transcripts from audio recorded on the bus show Chick talking to the boy about the phones.

"Take this and put it in your backpack. At some point after 9 o'clock go in the bathroom when you're by yourself and call the number that's been pre-programmed into it," Chick told the boy, identified only as "AC" in the complaint. "The passcode is – just remember your age – it's 8888 … four 8s."

Chick allegedly warned the child not to let his parents see the phones, which they discovered while cleaning his bedroom and reported to the Greenland Police Department on July 2.

The transcripts also appear to show Chick using threatening language involving unnamed other people, with phrases like "I'm doing everything I can to stop them from doing very bad things" and "I can't keep telling them that you forgot … I can't keep giving them excuses."

Authorities say Chick told the boy that the threats were coming from something he referred to as "The Team," an organization he said was comprised of between eight and 800 members. He allegedly claimed that if the child did not meet the demands of "The Team," it "would go to 'Plan B,' which would result in AC being kidnapped and tortured," the complaint said.

Police noted in the complaint that while the victim has not disclosed all of the demands Chick made of him, "he did relay that Chick asked him to make a video and that 'The Team' liked clothing and underwear."

Months earlier, in April, the victim's parents reported to school officials that Chick had regularly been giving the boy and his sister gifts on the bus.

"Additionally, when the children were absent from school, Mike would leave letters for them at the residence saying how much he misses them," the complaint reads.

The boy's parents also told police and school officials Chick invited himself to his Little League baseball game on May 5. The school asked First Student, Chick's bus company, to assign him to a different route, and police contacted the driver.

"When Officer Drake asked Chick why he thought we (Greenland PD) wanted to speak with him, Chick responded that it 'probably' had to do with AC," the complaint read.

After police obtained a search warrant for Chick's home last Tuesday, they say they found another prepaid cellphone, a camera, rubber gloves, candy-flavored liquor, candy, children's underwear and other clothing, toys and a GPS vehicle tracker.

Police also said they found handwritten notes with graphic sexual instructions, as well as "a series of notebook-lined paper containing handwritten instructions on keeping a secret, specifically from parents, teachers, and police officers in order for your family to not be killed."

Additionally, police said they found computer-generated documents with direct and specific threats. One photographed in the court document reads, "THIS IS NOT WORKING. WE ARE DONE F****** AROUND. MAKE THIS HAPPEN NOW OR THE KID DISAPPEARS." Another, which is not photographed, reads, "SAY GOODBYE. WE ARE DOING THIS. DO NOT RUN. DO NOT HIDE. WE KNOW WHERE TO GET YOU. YOU HAD TO HAVE KNOWN THIS DAY WAS COMING. YOU HAVE BEEN F****** UP WAY TOO MUCH. YOU HAVE FAILED TO MEET OUR DEMANDS."

Anyone with information about Chick is asked to call a hotline that has been set up at 603-722-1751.

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