Created: 2/21/2008 5:40:35 PM 
Greenwood County (WLTX) A school bus driver in the Upstate has been arrested on charges that she duct-taped students on her bus.
Helen Vanessa Curry, 35, has been charged with eight counts of cruelty to children. WSPA-TV reports that she admitted to using duct tape to control children who she determined were unruly.
According to investigators, the woman would put tape over the mouths of children she thought were too loud. She also reportedly tied their hands if they touched other students.
The students in the incident were from Ware Shoals Elementary. The students ranged from five to 12-years-old, and one of the children was her own child. The incidents had been taking place since November.
However, she was reached by WSPA-TV, and says she wouldn't harm the children.
"My own child rode the school bus that I drove," Curry says. "I treated her no different than I treated the rest of the children on the bus. I would never intentionally put a child's life in danger nor would I be cruel to a child just for the sheer sake of cruelty. I did not do anything to those children to cause them any harm."
Curry has been released on bond.
WSPA reports Curry was terminated from the school district Friday on an unrelated matter. School officials say they did not learn about the allegations until she left the school.
"One of our bus drivers, Ms. Vanessa Curry, was terminated last Friday for reasons unrelated to the present matters, which did not come to my attention until after she was dismissed," said Faye Sprouse, Superintendent of Ware Shoals School District 51, in a released statement. "After dismissal last Friday, student riders on her bus told their new driver about having their mouths and hands taped as punishment for misbehavior on the bus. Upon learning of this utterly unacceptable behavior, we reported it immediately to law enforcement in order that they may conduct an investigation and take whatever action they deem to be appropriate."
