Teacher drugs and assaults Italian exchange student living with him, Florida cops say

A high school teacher drugged and sexually assaulted an Italian foreign exchange student he was hosting, Florida prosecutors said.

Now, 51-year-old Dmitri Kostyunin has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office said in an Aug. 22 news release.

Kostyunin was convicted of charges of engaging in an act that constitutes sexual battery upon a child over 12 but younger than 18 by a person in familial or custodial authority, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and delivery of cannabis to a person under the age of 18 by a person over the age of 18, prosecutors said.

McClatchy News reached out to his attorney Aug. 22 but did not immediately receive a response.

Italian authorities contacted law enforcement in the U.S. in October 2023 after the student told family members about the incident from a few weeks earlier, officials said.

The student had been living with the teacher since August, and one night the man suggested the two of them watch a movie about Elton John, the Mount Dora Police Department wrote in an arrest affidavit.

Kostyunin gave the student alcohol and some chocolate that had a “weird taste,” then the student said their head “was all twisted,” police said.

The chocolate contained marijuana, according to police.

Then Kostyunin asked the teen if he wanted a massage, but when the teen said no, Kostyunin gave the student more chocolate, the teen told police.

The student refused the massage multiple times, but “kept getting more confused and under the influence after saying no,” according to police.

Eventually the teacher engaged in sex acts with the student, according to police.

Kostyunin said he blacked out, and when he woke up, he realized he’d “made a mistake,” police said.

The former Apopka High School teacher was found guilty of three charges in March.

“Instead of being able to learn abroad, make lasting friendships and take in some of the amazing things our country has to offer, those experiences and memories will forever be tarnished because of Kostyunin,” Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson said.

A spokesperson for the school district told McClatchy News that Kostyunin resigned when he was arrested and “was convicted of crimes unrelated to Orange County Public Schools.”

The incident occurred in Lake County, which is part of the Orlando metropolitan area.

This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Teacher drugs and assaults Italian exchange student living with him, Florida cops say."