VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A former Virginia Beach City Public Schools bus driver was handed a sentence of 13 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.
Michael Gunther, 33, was a bus driver for Kellam High School in 2023 when he had reportedly given a substance to a student on the bus, according to the stipulation of facts provided by the Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.
That prompted an investigation by VBPD, which found images of "pre-pubescent males in various erotic poses" on Gunther's devices.
Watch previous coverage of Gunther's case
Gunther was ultimately charged with and pleaded guilty to 10 counts of possession of child pornography, each carrying a five-year sentence. Thirty-seven years of that 50-year sentence was suspended.
According to a search warrant from 2023, on Sept. 4 of that year, a mother found her teenage son "laying in bed unresponsive" and found "vomit all over the floor" of their bathroom and then rushed him to the emergency room.
Police continued in the warrant that the mother was able to go through her son's phone and found a conversation with a "Mr. Mike" who had agreed to buy nicotine vapes and alcohol for him and other students. The conversation, according to the search warrant, also revealed that "Mr. Mike" was her son's school bus driver.
Gunther had been employed by VBCPS for about five years before his arrest.
