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The New Canaan man accused of making threats against the town of Weston was a bus driver for the Stamford schools for a short time in 2009 after the Weston schools requested his transfer, a schools spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Scott DeiCas was a driver in Stamford for one week in September 2009, said Sarah Arnold, public affairs officer for Stamford Public Schools. She said she does not know if he left on his own accord or was released. Arnold said that Stamford schools did not receive any complaints about DeiCas. He has not worked for First Student Bus Co. since leaving Stamford, according to Bonnie Bastian, manager of media relations for First Student. which runs school busses in Stamford and Weston.
DeiCas, 48, was arrested early Saturday at his New Canaan home after a standoff that lasted about 10 hours. He is accused of making a suspicious phone call to an administrative assistant at the Weston Board of Education office on July 29. DeiCas was arraigned Monday in Norwalk Court and is being held on $250,000 bond. He was a Weston school bus driver from 2007 to 2009.
DeiCas 48, who is accused of threatening Weston town officials through YouTube videos and comments posted on the schools' website, was transferred to Stamford by First Student (which bought Laidlaw Bus Co.) after the Board of Education asked the company not to reassign him to any bus routes in town.
Weston Schools Superintendent Jerome Belair said Tuesday that DeiCas was a school bus driver for Laidlaw in Weston as early as 2003, but no official complaints were received for years, until just before he was transferred out of town, according to Superintendent of Schools.
"We had received some complaints from parents and students in regards to how he was conducting himself, interacting with people, [he] appeared a little bit irritable and wasn't so patient," said Belair.
Bastian said all drivers are background tested before they are hired. "The safety and security of the passengers we transport throughout the area is our core value," she said. "We are working closely with the school district and local law enforcement as they complete their investigation."
Belair said the bus company conducts background checks that look at criminal and motor vehicle records. Random drug testing is also conducted. In a YouTube video posted by DeiCas in January 2010, he said he had taken the drug LSD in the past, but started using regularly 18 months earlier.
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