Former APS bus driver sentenced after pleading guilty in rape cold cases
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A former Albuquerque Public Schools bus driver learned his sentence after pleading guilty in multiple rape cold cases.
A judge on Monday sentenced Ralph Martinez to the maximum 30 years. In April, Martinez pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal sexual penetration. The charges stem from three different cases, between 1988 and 1991.
Martinez said he didn’t know the victims. They were between 18 and 59 years old at the time. According to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, he apologize to the victims before his sentencing. Two of the victims also testified, reportedly saying how he “shattered their lives and caused years of trauma.”
Special agents with the district attorney’s office arrested Martinez in July 2023. According to the DA’s office, a DNA investigation linked him to the assaults.
The investigators who cracked the case are with a special unit under the DA’s office that looks into sexual assault cold cases. They had the old rape kits and narrowed it down.
Agents reportedly collected DNA from Martinez’s school bus steering wheel, gear shift and switches. They found that it was a match.
Martinez was an APS bus driver for five years.
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