Former school bus driver gets 30 years in prison for lewd battery on school girl

Now that his girlfriend has agreed to spend 30 years in prison and is ready to testify against him, Joshua Grotberg’s trial next week has been postponed.

Grotberg, 30, is charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl while he was working as a Collier County school bus driver. His girlfriend, Lillian Brown, 27, also a former bus driver, pleaded no contest to 19 felony charges alleging she also had sex with the girl and videotaped many of the encounters among the 14-year-old, herself and Grotberg.

Under state sentencing guidelines, Brown faced a minimum of 110 years in prison, her attorney, Shannon Brown, said Thursday. So she agreed to the plea agreement offered by state prosecutor Steve Maresca rather than risking more prison time if she went to trial and lost.

In exchange for two consecutive 15-year prison terms on two counts of lewd battery, followed by five years of probation for three more counts of lewd battery, four counts of lewd molestation and 10 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, Brown must testify against Grotberg.

The trial for both was scheduled to begin Monday in Collier County Circuit Court. Instead it was postponed to July 18 to allow Grotberg’s attorneys, Rex Darrow and Michael Schneider, time to interview Brown beforehand. Until that happens, the attorneys won’t know how damaging Brown will be to their case.

“We’re going to take her deposition. We won’t really know until we hear what she’s going to say,” Darrow said.

The prosecutor was unavailable for comment Thursday. Brown wasn’t scheduled to plead or even be in court Tuesday, but she spoke with her attorney and agreed to the deal, so the attorneys asked the court to hear the case. After the plea, the trial then was postponed.

The prosecutor has extended no plea offers to Grotberg, Darrow said. Grotberg also is charged with raping a 3-year-old relative of Brown’s. That will be tried separately, Darrow said.

The 14-year-old girl was a Pine Ridge Middle School student on Brown’s route. One of the sexual assaults is alleged to have occurred on one of the buses while parked on school property.

According to court records, the sexual conduct involving the girl, whose name won’t be published because of the nature of the case, took place 30 to 40 times in numerous places, including in a hotel room at Sea World in Orlando and at Grotberg’s residence. Court records describe Brown and Grotberg repeatedly taking photos of the girl while she was having sex.

Grotberg, of 7655 Tara Circle, confessed to the sexual conduct, according to court records. He and Brown, 350 Buchanan St., were arrested Jan. 9, 2004. Brown will receive credit for the more than two years she has been held in Collier County jail awaiting trial.

“Her plea is a tentative one,” her attorney said. “She’ll be sentenced after the trial.”