Robert Bet / Image via Clay County Free Press
Yesterday, we told you of a West Virginia man who's facing punishment for abuse of power and his abuse of a young gay teen. And, we now have new info showing this man's violent past before this incident.
But if you missed the earlier post, Robert Belt acts as the sheriff’s deputy for West Virginia’s Clay County. On top of that, Belt works part-time as a school bus driver.
Several witnesses report that Belt got on the bus intercom system on September 5th to publicly humiliate and harass an openly gay high school student.
They report that Belt specifically singled out the teen before saying:
“No f*ggot activity will be permitted on this bus. In my Bible it states that ‘f*ggots will burn in hell,’ and I will not condone it.”
It wasn’t until three days later that a parent got wind of the alleged comments. That parent then reported Belt to the Clay County High School vice principal, Alan Tanner, who then in turn notified the director of transportation.
Since then, it’s been confirmed that the situation is being investigated internally.
According to a Facebook post by the Nelson County (West Virginia) Democratic, Three students have given statements to the school counselor about the incident.
In addition, Joe Paxton, the superintendent of Clay County schools, responded to the incident by saying that:
“All of our employees are expected to provide a safe and welcoming learning environment for all of our students. As the Employee Code of Conduct mandates, the school system expects all of our employees to exhibit professional behavior by showing positive examples of communication, fairness, and language. Also, as required in the Code of Conduct, the school system expects all of our employees to maintain a safe and healthy environment, free from harassment, intimidation, bullying, and free from bias and discrimination.”
But it looks like officials should not have even let Robert Belt around school children.
Eight years ago, Belt went through a civil rights lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Belt was accused of harassing another man, named Robert Morton, in 2007 after Morton asked Belt to remove his boots while inside his home (Belt was there to pick up items for a mutual friend).
This then allegedly led Belt to yell out, ‘F*** you and your white carpet,” before beating up the man with a flashlight and then continuing to harass him (such as allegedly making several false traffic violations stops and more physical assaults) for two years.
And this lawsuit even brought out multiple other accounts of harassment from third parties.
Unfortunately, it’s not clear how that 2009 suit was resolved, and while the investigation for the school bus incident is ongoing Belt will continue to serve as a bus driver and sheriff’s deputy.
