by Guy Page
A South Burlington public school van driver on Monday, August 26 was charged with aggravated sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child. Police say the abuse occurred after a judge released Jerry Normandin, 65, back into the community following a July, 2021 arrest for sexually abusing a 10 year old boy.
Normandin, a Milton resident, was sentenced for sex crimes in 2023 and is currently incarcerated in Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.
Details of the 2023 sentencing were reported by Mike Donoghue in VDC. Normandin had worked various jobs at the South Burlington school district since June 22, 2009 when he was hired as a security officer to monitor driving and parking safety at the city’s high school and middle school parking lot on Dorset Street, Young said. By July 2018, Normandin became a general paraeducator and served as a study hall monitor. Beginning in January 2021 Normandin was assigned as a driver for one of the school-owned vans, Young said. The district used its own vans instead of using taxi cabs for certain student transports.
The timeline of alleged criminal activity was outlined in a statement released today by the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI).
On July 12, 2024, Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI) was referred a case from the Milton Police Department regarding the alleged sexual abuse by Normandin of a complainant that began when he was a juvenile. Detective Joanna Morse was assigned to this investigation and developed probable cause that Normandin repeatedly over the course of several years committed the crimes of Aggravated Sexual Assault and Lewd or Lascivious Conduct with a Child.
On Monday, Normandin was issued a citation to appear in court on Thursday, September 19, for the above listed charges.
“It is worth noting that the abuse in this case continued after Normandin was released back into the community on conditions by a judge after CUSI arrested him on July 29, 2021, for sexually abusing a 10-year-old male in Milton, and sexually abusing a developmentally disabled 15-year-old male at work while employed by the South Burlington School District,” CUSI Detective Richard Weinisch said. “The new victim in this current case was sexually abused throughout the duration of that two-year court process, up until Normandin was sentenced to incarceration in August of 2023.
Normandin is scheduled to be released in less than two years from now on the 2021 charges.