Daycare bus driver arrested after six-year-old girl in ‘very hot’ bus is discovered banging on window

State investigators say Barbara Ledbetter falsely claimed she checked the bus before locking it up

A bus driver for a daycare in Oviedo, Florida, has been arrested and accused of leaving a sleeping six-year-old girl inside a hot shuttlebus for more than an hour.

Barbara Ledbetter, 49, left the girl inside a "very hot" bus on Monday for over an hour, according to Oviedo Police Department. When the child woke up, she began banging on the bus window for help, and caught the attention of a passerby. Law enforcement was alerted and the girl was rescued from the bus.

The high in Oviedo on Monday was 96 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C), according to AccuWeather data.

The Department of Children and Families in Florida opened an investigation into the incident on Tuesday, and visited the daycare, All About Kidz, to determine what happened.

“Through DCF’s investigation and my own investigation, it was determined [the child] was left sleeping on a daycare bus, which was turned off and unattended, for a period of one hour and two minutes in the parking lot of All About Kidz,” the DCF arrest report said, according to Law & Crime.

Barbara Ledbetter, 49, was arrested on a child negligence charge after she allegedly left a sleeping six-year-old girl in the back of a day care bus she drove in Oviedo, Florida, on August 26, 2024 (Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)

The report said that Ledbetter “did not check the bus after arriving to the day care and letting the kids off.”

Investigators noted that despite surveillance video showing that Ledbetter did not check the bus, she claimed she had checked in a duty log that she filled out that day.

“Her job duty requires her to physically go to the back of the bus and visually check the seats, which she did not do,” law enforcement said. “She then signed a log stating she checked the bus.”

Ledbetter is facing one count of third-degree child neglect without causing great bodily harm, which is a felony charge.

The bus driver posted a $2,500 bond and was released from the Seminole County Jail after her arrest.

All About Kidz issued a statement to local broadcaster WOFL that it has "cooperated fully" with the police investigation and has since fired Ledbetter.

Ledbetter's next court date is scheduled for October 1.