CALGARY -- Lethbridge police have charged a bus driver with repeatedly sexually assaulting one of his disabled passengers.

The woman, 46, who’s physically and mentally disabled, was a regular passenger on the City of Lethbridge-operated Access-a-Ride service.

Police say she was indecently touched by a 65-year-old driver five times between Nov. 2008 and last month.

The allegations came to light when she went to police accompanied by her mother.

Kenneth Patrick Ball, of Lethbridge, has been charged with five counts of sexual assault and five counts of sexual exploitation of a person with a disability.

He’s been suspended without pay, said Lethbridge transit manager John King.

He said Ball had been been driving for the city service and its Handi-bus predecessor for nearly five years.

The accused has been released but ordered not to communicate with people with physical or mental disabilities. Ball is to appear in court on March 3.