Winchester Driving Instructor Arraigned on Indecent Assault & Battery Charges

WINCHESTER – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Winchester Chief of Police Daniel O’Connell have announced that Carl A. Welliver, 63 of Winchester, has been arraigned on two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 and two counts of accosting and annoying another person in connection with assaults on two female juveniles. These offenses are alleged to have occurred in August and early fall of 2020 while Welliver was a driving instructor at Middlesex Driving Academy. Welliver last taught at the Academy in May of 2021.

On July 21, 2021, the Defendant was arraigned before Judge Marianne Hinkle in Woburn District Court where she ordered the defendant release on his own personal recognizance and ordered him to stay away from and have no contact with the victims and witnesses. He was also ordered not to work as a driving school instructor, not to drive minor children outside of his family members and to stay away from the Middlesex Driving Academy.

The investigation into these allegations by Winchester Police Department and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office began on or about June 3, 2021. The investigation revealed that the two16-year-old female juveniles were students at the Middlesex Driving Academy and had taken lessons from Welliver. During those lessons, Welliver is alleged to have indecently assaulted the two female juveniles by touching their upper thigh, along with other inappropriate conduct including multiple incidents of unwanted touching while the students were driving and while one of the victims was working at the Academy.

Prior to working at the Middlesex Driving Academy, Welliver owned a driving school in Stoneham, MA. He previously worked as a special needs bus driver for the Arlington Public Schools. During the investigation, Winchester Police notified the Registry of Motor Vehicles and, after a hearing,  Welliver’s driving license was suspended and he was removed from driving students from the Arlington Public Schools.

If members of the public have any information relevant to this investigation, they are urged to contact the Winchester Police Detectives Bureau.

Welliver is due back in Court on September 3, 2021, for a zoom hearing. These charges are allegations and the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.