A Staten Island school bus matron New York City’s term for an aide or monitor — for students with special needs pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing after being accused of invading the home of a family from her route with a knife, reported SLive News.
The incident reportedly occurred on Dec. 6, when 59-year-old Joanne Dash entered the unidentified family’s property in the New Springville neighborhood.
According to the news report, a person at the home told authorities the defendant was in the area that leads to the main living room armed with a knife. An 18-year-old male resident came downstairs and encountered Dash before she fled in a vehicle but not before shouting, “You cost me my job.”
Dash was reportedly arrested on Dec. 17. Court documents do not state whether she had any interactions with anyone at the home prior to the incident, but sources with knowledge of the case said the victims were from her school bus route.
The article states that Dash was arraigned in criminal court on May 1, was granted supervised release, and appeared in supreme court last week on her own volition. The court, meanwhile, issued a full and final order of protection for the owner and residence of the property where the incident took place.
On June 5 while in court, Dash’s attorney John Rapawy told the judge that his client was fully aware of the terms of her plea deal and that she had full support of her family in putting the matter behind her. It remains unclear why Dash tresspassed the property in the first place.
The defendant reportedly assured the court that she was willing to waive several rights in taking a guilty plea, including the right to appeal and to review the prosecution’s evidence.
Per the approval of prosecutors and after further investigation, the court ordered Dash to complete 16 courses of anger management as a means to resolve the case. The defendant was reportedly facing the possibility of between five and 25 years in prison had she been convicted by a jury on the top count in connection to the incident.
If Dash violates the terms of the plea deal, she could be sentenced to one year in jail.
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