A teacher who drugged a foreign exchange and attacked him sexually will now face life behind bars, the city of Mount Dora has announced.
Orange County teacher Dimitri V. Kostyunin was arrested last year by city police, with the aid of the FBI and charged with sexual battery on a minor. A jury in March found him guilty of giving the 17-year-old wine and candy laced with marijuana while watching a movie about Elton John “and how he became gay,” in the boy’s words.
Kostyunin, who resigned from his job at Apopka High School, kept changing his story, authorities said, including claiming that he “blacked out.”
The boy told his parents about the incident when he returned to Italy. Authorities there contacted the FBI.
His defense attorney argued that the boy’s account of the timeline was blurry. The boy, with the aid of a translator, testified that he became “very confused and his head was all twisted.”
The 51-year-old was sentenced to life for sexual battery of a child 12 years or older by a person in custodial authority, 11 months for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and 15 years for delivery of cannabis to a person younger than 18.