He pulled the stunt after he stopped taking his medication.

He pulled the stunt after he stopped taking his medication.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A mentally ill school bus driver who armed himself with an M-1A rifle, veered from his morning route and took 13 children on a 100-mile trip to suburban Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty Monday to federal kidnapping charges.
Speaking softly in a packed courtroom that included several of his young victims, Otto L. Nuss, 64, accepted a plea bargain that would put him behind bars for four years for the Jan. 24, 2002, trip.
Nuss told the judge he was taking three psychiatric medications for an illness that dates back decades, but was of a clear mind -- other than being tired from a sleepless night -- and wanted to plead guilty.
Formal sentencing was deferred until September.
Prosecutors said the deal's call for a relatively light punishment reflected uncertainty about how a jury would view Nuss' state of mind during the kidnappings.
More than 90 rounds of ammunition were found on the bus after Nuss surrendered to an off-duty police officer in Landover Hills, Md., following a six-hour manhunt. Dozens of pistols and rifles were discovered in his home. Prosecutors said he had written out a will and left it on his kitchen table.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Goldman said he believed that Nuss, a former pie-plant worker who lived alone, didn't intend to harm the children.
"He said he wanted to do something nice for them," Goldman said.
Nuss smiled and waved to the more than dozen friends and relatives who came to support him Monday. Some cried as he was led into the courtroom wearing a prison jumpsuit.
"All of us are here to say we support him and we will continue to pray for him and to pray for the children and their families," said the Rev. Paul Bartlett, pastor at the Christ Lutheran Church in Barto. Bartlett said he visited Nuss in jail, and that Nuss is willing to live with his sentence. "He knows he did something wrong," Bartlett said.
Nuss had taken his medication for three decades, but stopped shortly before the kidnappings with his doctor's blessing because the drugs were giving him tremors, authorities said.