Nearly two years after a Littleton Public Schools bus aide was caught abusing a nonverbal child with severe autism on camera, the criminal side of the case is drawing to a close and the victims’ families are contemplating a civil suit.
Kiarra Jones, a former paraprofessional for the school district, shortly before 9 a.m. Monday to 10 counts of third-degree assault of an at-risk child, a felony, and two counts of misdemeanor child abuse, 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Eric Ross said. The deal dropped one charge of felony child abuse from her case.
The last-minute plea deal canceled a jury trial scheduled to begin Monday in Arapahoe County District Court, court records show.
Jessica Vestal, the mother of the boy being beaten by Jones in the video, said the plea deal didn’t come out of the blue, but she was still disappointed when it happened.
“The spiteful part of me was looking forward to a trial because that was all we had … to put her on display,” Vestal said. “She didn’t just hurt our kids, she actively partook in lying to me to make sure she could hurt them for as long as possible.”
Vestal said Jones would proactively text her about her son’s injuries, shifting the blame to other staff members or the child himself.
Brittany Yarbrough, another victim’s mother, called the plea deal “bittersweet.”
Yarbrough said she had viewed the trial as a chance to give her son a voice and was disappointed she wouldn’t have that opportunity. But, she added, she was grateful the plea deal meant Jones couldn’t appeal the ruling and drag out the case for even longer.
“This won’t ever be over for my son and for my family,” Yarbrough said.
“This defendant was placed in a position of trust with defenseless children, and she clearly abused that responsibility,” District Attorney Amy Padden said. “Her actions are inexcusable. This resolution allows the victims and their families to move forward without the trauma of a trial, while still ensuring accountability.”
Teachers at Joshua School in Englewood, where the three children hurt by Jones attended, reached out to Yarbrough after the video of Jones hitting Vestal’s son surfaced. They said the incident was similar to when Yarbrough’s son had broken his foot earlier that year and no one could figure out why.
The Littleton Public Schools transportation department is contracted to bus the students to the private school, which serves students on the autism spectrum.
One of the felony assault charges that Jones pleaded guilty to names Yarbrough’s son as a victim, according to the plea deal document.
Eight felony assault charges and one misdemeanor child abuse charge named Vestal’s son, according to the document. One felony assault charge and one misdemeanor child abuse charge named a third victim.
Each of the felony counts Jones pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison, Ross said.
If she receives the maximum sentence for each of the 10 assault charges during her March 18th sentencing hearing, Jones could spend 15 years in prison.
“As a mom, nothing would ever be good enough, but, realistically, that’s the best case scenario for this,” Vestal said. “There’s not a prison sentence in the world that would make me and my heart feel that it’s good enough.”
Jones’ sentencing date falls on the second anniversary of the last time she abused Vestal’s son, marking a full circle moment for the case, Vestal said. The report Vestal filed the following day kicked off the chain of events that led to the criminal case.
Littleton Public Schools fired Jones on March 19, 2024, of the previous day’s bus ride, according to the school district.
The video showed Jones elbowing the boy in the stomach, punching him in the head and slamming his face into the bus window. The boy was sitting calmly at the time of the unprovoked assault.
That video was the only one made public, but attorney Ciara Anderson of said the investigation uncovered days of video of Jones abusing the children on the bus.
Anderson and her colleague, Qusair Mohamedbhai, are two attorneys representing the families in the pending civil case against Jones.
“Her conduct was beyond criminal,” Anderson said. “It was cruel, it was chilling, it was inhumane.”
The civil case, which has not been filed as of Monday, according to online court records, will focus not only on Jones, but on who put her in that position and allowed the abuse to go on as long as it did, Anderson said.
Vestal and Yarbrough both said their sons were diagnosed with PTSD after the abuse was discovered.
Her son’s triggers are varied and difficult to guess, Vestal said. It ranges from music that played in the background during the abuse to a shirt he may have worn during one of the incidents.
“Trauma is a fickle (expletive),” Yarbrough said. “And it’s all compounded by the fact that he can’t tell me what he’s scared of. … he couldn’t tell me about the monster sitting next to him on the school bus for months and months and months.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
