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School bus driver says he was 'set up'

63-year-old expected to face kidnapping charge

Otto Nuss is shown in his Friday appearance in court.

GREENBELT, Maryland (CNN) -- The 63-year-old bus driver accused of taking 13 Pennsylvania students on an unauthorized five-hour detour to suburban Washington claimed he was "set up" in a court hearing Friday.

Otto Nuss will be charged with kidnapping and possessing a firearm -- a loaded M-1A rifle, partially covered by a coat behind the driver's seat -- while committing a violent crime, authorities said Friday. He was transferred Friday from Maryland back to eastern Pennsylvania, where he will be tried.

The criminal complaint against Nuss states that he "knowingly and willfully seized, confined, kidnapped, abducted and carried away and held for ransom or reward or otherwise" students and transported them across state lines.

Authorities said Nuss drove them more than 100 miles -- from Oley, Pennsylvania, to Landover Hills, Maryland, where police arrested Nuss on Thursday. The prosecuting attorney said Friday he would seek the maximum penalty, life in prison.

In the Maryland hearing, Nuss said he understood the warrant authorizing his detainment, adding, "I'm not totally involved in that."

After talking with Nuss, the public defender said, "He totally understands why he's here, but it was a set-up." He did not elaborate.

During the 11-minute hearing, Judge Charles Day granted Nuss's request for medication to treat an enlarged prostate but not his request to contact his sister. When asked if he suffers from mental illness, Nuss replied, "No sir, I'm not insane."

Nuss waived his right to a hearing in Maryland, and later appeared in a federal court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, authorities said.

There, a judge ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and report back to court February 1. Nuss, who remained silent throughout the 20-minute proceeding, will be held without bail until then.

The FBI found 48 firearms -- including 30 rifles and 6 shotguns -- in Nuss' residence Friday, Special Agent Tom Harrington said. Described as an avid hunter who has been cooperating with authorities, Nuss had obtained all the weapons legally, said Harrington.

'A vague field trip'

At 7:40 a.m. Thursday, Nuss picked up the first- through ninth-grade students -- ages 6 to 15 -- at Oley High School for what was supposed to be a six-mile, 15-minute trip to Berks Christian School in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania.

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"He started talking about a vague field trip," said Pastor James Smith, an employee at Berks Christian School. "(Nuss said) they would meet their parents wherever they were going."

Nuss stopped several times so the children could use the bathroom and bought them lunch at Burger King, saying he had brought $130 for that purpose. Several students at the restaurant saw a television set airing a CNN report about their disappearance, but none recognized the story was about them, authorities said.

"I was kind of scared, but I trusted him, too," said sixth-grader Michael Mast. Asked why, he said, "Because he was nice to us before."

When one child wrote "Call 911" on a sign and put it in a window, others encouraged him to take it down. Another student wrote 911 in reverse on a fogged bus window, authorities said.

According to the affidavit, Nuss told the children the gun was on the floor behind his feet and told them to stay away from it. "Some of the students advised the FBI that they feared that Nuss was going to kill them," the affidavit said.

Authorities later found 75 rounds of ammunition on the bus, in addition to the ammunition in the rifle, the FBI said.

During the trip, the dispatcher for Quigley Bus Co. tried to reach Nuss of the bus' two-way radio, but the driver ignored the calls, said FBI special agent Christopher Braga.

The trip came to an end at 1:45 p.m. ET when Nuss pulled the bus into the parking lot of a discount store in Landover Hills, Maryland, apparently because he saw a police car parked there, authorities said.

Nuss told the children he was going to ask for directions, but instead went in the store and surrendered to off-duty uniformed police officer Milton Chabla, who at the time was moonlighting as a security guard.