JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man accused of groping and exposing himself to a teen girl on a school bus has a criminal history dating back more than a decade, including multiple arrests involving violence against women, stalking, exposing himself, and sexual offenses.
Action News Jax has learned 41-year-old Todd Kinard Cullers was formally charged in connection with a March incident in which police say he boarded a Student Transportation of America bus carrying Riverside High School students.
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But just last week, a Duval County judge found Cullers incompetent to stand trial. Now, he is being held at a state mental health hospital.
The incident has left the teenage girl and her mother, Jerica Majors, searching for answers and questioning how a man with a long criminal history was able to get on a school bus in the first place.
“It makes me feel like a disgusting person. Upset,” the teen victim said.
RELATED: ‘Unauthorized’ person got onto Duval school bus, touched ‘student on the knee,’ DCPS says
Police say the incident happened on the morning of March 2 while the Riverside High School senior was riding the bus. According to the arrest report, Cullers boarded the bus on First and Franklin streets, touched the student on her backside and shoulder, then sat across the aisle before exposing himself.
“I felt scared. Embarrassed,” the student said.
The teen reacted by yelling at Cullers and backing away from him before the bus driver stopped and let him off near A. Philip Randolph Park. Records show the driver did not immediately report the incident.
RELATED: DCPS investigating after ‘unauthorized person’ allowed on school bus, touches student
“The way she handled it, it wasn’t as fast as it was supposed to have been,” the teen said.
Back in March, a spokesperson for Duval County Public Schools told Action News Jax the unauthorized person on the bus had only briefly touched the student on the knee. But police records paint a much more serious picture.
Action News Jax reached out to the district after learning that the new details included allegations that Cullers exposed himself and groped the student. The district has not yet responded.
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Major believes what happened to her daughter could have been prevented.
“He traumatized my daughter for the rest of her life,” she said.
Cullers’ arrest records dating back to 2009 show at least ten arrests involving allegations of crimes against women.
In 2009, records show a domestic violence injunction was filed against Cullers after police said he punched a woman in the face. Between 2009 and January 2012, he was arrested four separate times for violating that injunction.
From 2013 through 2018, records show Cullers was charged in multiple cases involving felony sexual offenses, stalking, battery, and exposing sexual organs.
Then, in August, Cullers was charged again with exposing sexual organs. Court records show a Duval County judge ordered him to be involuntarily committed to a mental institution. Then, seven months later, police say he committed the latest offense involving the Riverside student.
“How did he get on a bus? That is something that should be very, very concerning,” criminal defense attorney Michelle Suskauer said. She is not connected to the case.
Suskauer said while the allegations are disturbing, courts do not simply declare someone incompetent without extensive evaluation.
“A court doesn’t just take someone’s word for it and make their own evaluation that somebody is not competent,” Suskauer said. “Experts have to weigh in to make sure that is the case.”
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Still, the victim’s family says the outcome feels short of justice.
“He should’ve got at least five years jail time. Something,” the teen said. “If he keeps doing it, he’s going to do it to someone else way worse.”
Suskauer said the public should understand that a finding of incompetence does not necessarily mean Cullers will be quickly released.
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At the time Cullers was charged in April, online jail records show he was already being held in the Duval County Jail on a burglary charge.
In March, Action News Jax learned the bus driver involved in the case had been removed from service while the investigation was underway.
When we followed up with the company, STA told Action News Jax the driver no longer works there.
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