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The Canyons School District has reached a $175,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed by a father over the molestation of his daughter by now-former school bus driver John Martin Carrell.

The money will be paid through the Utah Division of Risk Management, district spokesman Jeff Haney said Tuesday.

The suit, which named the district and Carrell as defendants, was filed March 14 in the state's 3rd District Court and later transferred to federal court. It asked for an unspecified amount of money for general and special damages against both defendants, and $1 million in punitive damages against Carrell, who is serving a sentence of 15 years to life for molesting two of his young passengers.

U.S. District Judge David Nuffer on Monday dismissed the district as a defendant in the suit on the agreement of both sides. Carrell remains as a defendant and is defending himself without the assistance of a lawyer from behind bars.

Carrell, who has insisted throughout his prosecution that he is innocent, has claimed in a court filing that "the only 'sexual misconduct' which gave rise to this civil lawsuit" occurred in the father's mind.

"In my opinion, his motives are not to protect and safeguard [his daughter], but to get as much financial gain as possible at any cost and at the expense of any other person regardless of their guilt or innocence," Carrell wrote.

The two passengers, both 5-year-old girls, were special-needs students at Altara Elementary School in Sandy when the offenses took place in March and April 2014.

Prosecutors contended Carrell had touched the girls' genitals while helping them in and out of seat belts or while holding them between his legs as he sat in the driver's seat.

A 3rd District jury convicted the former bus driver of 19 counts of molesting the girls and found him not guilty of 14 other counts.

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