A driver is accused of setting fire to a bus with children on board

A former Salt Lake City school bus driver has been accused of setting his bus on fire while children were on board.

The man, 58-year-old Michael Austin Ford, was formally charged Monday with burning a car belonging to an organization receiving federal funds and pleaded not guilty, CNN reported.

He also faces 10 counts of arson.

The incidents he is accused of date back to February 2022 and April 2023, when on those dates he allegedly started a fire in a bus carrying children while it was moving.

He allegedly used an incendiary object and continued on his way despite the smoke disturbing the children during the first event.

The second incident was reportedly filmed.

Mr. Ford was arrested in April 2023 and questioned by authorities, but released.

He was arrested again last October.

The former bus driver reportedly admitted to being involved in three other fires on buses he drove, the first dating back to the early 2000s.

The defendant was employed by the Granite School District from 1998 until he was fired in June 2023.