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2 students accused of sexually assaulting 10-year-old deaf boy on school bus

ROSWELL, Ga. — Two Fulton County school students are facing charges they sexually assaulted a 10-year-old boy on a bus ride from Roswell to the Atlanta Area School for The Deaf in Clarkston.

According to the attorney for the young victim, the allegations only came to light after a 14-year-old boy reported to his mother that a 16-year-old had molested him on the bus.

According to a police report given to Channel 2's Mike Petchenik by attorney Tommy Maddox, police later determined the 14-year-old had participated in attacks on the 10-year-old.

Maddox said the 10-year-old victim was "too scared" to come forward about what happened to him.

“He was just violated in every way you can imagine," Maddox told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Back in January the 14-year-old was on top of him and he screamed and that’s when it stopped. He didn’t know he could scream.“

The police report indicated that the student who told his mother about the attacks was quote "scared" of the 16-year-old because of the "continuous sexual assaults."

Maddox told Petchenik the evidence he's seen indicates that the school bus driver was aware of the attacks but never reported them to police, and that criminal charges could be forthcoming against the school bus driver for failure to report.

Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Samantha Evans told Petchenik the driver is no longer employed with the system, but she couldn't elaborate on whether this situation played a role.

The police report indicates that a student on the bus said the driver saw one boy touching another and told them:  "No more touching," but it said nothing about the driver reporting anything to police.

“She is in charge of protecting children on the bus," Maddox said of the driver. " If this went on day after day and she is just in lah lah land, that is really bad.’’

A Fulton County judicial official tells us the teens are facing charges of aggravated sodomy and aggravated child molestation and will be charged as adults.  Both are due in court Thursday for a first appearance.

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