TAVARES, Fla.—A former high school teacher has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually battering a foreign exchange student last year.
A Lake County jury found Dmitri V. Kostyunin, 51, guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, delivery of cannabis to a person under 18 and sexual battery in March.
Kostyunin was employed as a science teacher at Apopka High School when he was arrested in October 2023 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) contacted Mount Dora Police Department and stated a “sexual incident” occurred at Kostyunin’s home in Mount Dora. The victim told authorities that Kostyunin gave him marijuana edibles and alcohol and performed sex acts on the boy in two different rooms in his home in September 2023. The boy, from Italy, had been staying with Kostyunin since August 2023 as part of a foreign exchange student program, Gladson’s office said. The boy’s age has never been released.
During an interview, Kostyunin admitted giving the boy THC edibles, wine and beer and claimed he “blacked out” and woke up to evidence of a sexual encounter, and “he knew he made a mistake,” his arrest affidavit states.
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