LOGAN — A Connect Transit bus driver is facing possible charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman before leaving a note to apologize for the incident days later. Steven Kenneth Naegle, 56, was booked Wednesday into the Cache County Jail.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, the alleged assault took place on the morning of Jan. 16, between 7:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. in the North Logan Walmart parking lot. The alleged victim told police that she was sitting in her parked car with her son in the front passenger seat when a Cache Valley Transit Department bus pulled up next to her.
The woman told North Park police that the driver, identified as Naegle, got out of the driver’s seat of the bus, came to the passenger side of the victim’s vehicle, and began shaking it. He then walked to the driver’s side window, which was rolled down, grabbed the victim’s breast, and shook them.
Investigators reported, the alleged victim claimed Naelge stayed and talked to her for several minutes before getting on the bus and leaving, court documents detailed.
The woman told police how on Jan. 22 she found a note left on the windshield of her vehicle reading, “I’m Sorry! Please don’t get me fired.” The note also had a frowny face at the end of it.
According to the alleged victim, Naegle posted the note to her vehicle sometime on the 22nd between 7:10 a.m. and 8:02 a.m. She told investigators that she was getting ready to leave for work when she saw the bus that the suspect drives parked just a few spaces down from her.
Police report, Naegle then drove the bus over near the Walmart gas station and waited there before eventually leaving, the arrest affidavit described.
Investigators reviewed security footage from Walmart on the days in question and say that the video corroborates what the woman claimed.
According to jail records, Naegle was booked on suspicion of misdemeanor sexual battery and forcible sex abuse. He was later released, pending arraignment of formal charges in Logan’s 1st District Court.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.