The driver of a school transport vehicle in Massachusetts is accused of selling heroin out of a van for special needs children.
Rudencia Montes, 43, is charged with distributing heroin, conspiracy to violate the state's drug laws, and a parking zone violation.
The Framingham resident was arraigned in Framingham Disctrict Court Monday.
Montes was driving the school bus for the Natick-based Accept Education Collaborative. The school said Montes would transport two children daily.
Prosecutors said Montes drove her 33-year-old boyfriend, Jose Gonzalez, to Framingham’s Cushing Park on Friday morning in the school van. They said an officer working a detail witnessed Gonzalez selling heroin to Corrine Gentile, of Framingham.
Investigators said they found additional baggies consistent with heroin and more than $700 in cash inside the school van. There were no children in the minivan at the time of the alleged drug deal and Montes was off duty.
Montes' attorney Sheila Dwyer said her client denies the allegations and "had nothing to do with it.
U.S. & World
But prosecutor Dylan Krazinski alleges Montes confessed to police that she knew Gonzalez was selling drugs, but the she didn't know what kind.
Accept released a statement saying in part, “Although no students were present or involved, the alleged conduct is of great concern to us; the parents of the students who were transported by this driver have been notified.”
Montes is being held on $5,000 cash bail.
The school said van drivers take the school vans home and are allowed up to 100 miles per week for personal use.
