BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

A Hillsborough County bus driver is credited with locating a missing ten-year-old and returning him home safely. He had been reported missing late Thursday evening.

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson Jean Pierre was dropped off at his bus stop around 7:30 a.m., Thursday. However, she did not realize that the school bus to attend Corr Elementary School.

When his father arrived at the school to pick him up, he was informed that Jefferson had not attended school and had been marked absent. His father filed a missing person’s report with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said the child lives in Gibsonton and had a key to his residence and there was evidence that he had been home and changed clothes before leaving again.

Deputies conducted a neighborhood search for Jefferson, activated reverse 9-1-1, called out the K-9 search team and activated the Aviation Unit.

Shortly after 7 p.m., the bus driver was driving down Causeway Blvd., when she observed a young child walking down the busy highway wearing a backpack. She turned the school bus around, stopped, and picked up the child.

She called the Hillsborough County School District and learned that Jefferson had been reported missing. She then found out where he lived and delivered him to his home. The driver was unaware that the child had been reported missing, police said.

A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said when the child was interviewed and asked where he had been, he said, “just walking.” The Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation in the case.