Valeria Costadoni, a language arts teacher in Florida, was arrested on Monday, January 8, after she allegedly had a sexual relationship with a teen student for two years. Costadoni is accused of carrying out the relationship at their homes and in the classroom.
Costadoni, 30, the head of the language arts department at Miami Arts Charter School, is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student about four times. According to police, Costadoni also performed oral sex on the student on “many different occasions” inside a classroom at the school. Furthermore, the teacher and student also had sex in Costadoni’s car and at the victim’s home.
Costadoni was arrested on two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child. The unidentified victim, who is no 17, told authorities the relationship was consensual.
via Miami Herald:
According to police, Costadoni and the student at Miami Arts Charter School began their sexual relationship two years ago. The male student told police they had sex four times in Costadoni’s home, on “many different occasions” at the Wynwood school and in the teacher’s car.
The students’ name was not released. The arrest report says police were informed about the sexual relations in October. It isn’t clear why Costadoni was arrested Monday. Attempts to reach Costadoni by phone Monday failed. It wasn’t immediately clear if she had obtained an attorney. According to the charter school’s website, Costadoni was born in Paraguay and moved to Miami in the early 1990s. She graduated from Miami Coral Park Senior High and then entered several writing seminar programs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
For the past seven years she has taught at Miami Arts Charter, working her way up through the English department in its middle and high schools. When she was arrested, Costadoni chaired the Wynwood school’s langauge arts department.
Costadoni was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight correctional center and was released on $15,000 bond. According to the school’s website, Costadoni is from Asuncion, Paraguay, and moved to Miami in the late 1990s. She attended Miami Coral Park Senior High School before graduating from Johns Hopkins University.
This is the latest in a string of teacher/student sex scandals over the last couple of years. In November, Tennessee teacher Janet Smothers was arrested. Former nutrition teacher LaToya Parker was also arrested for a relationship with a student. Florida teacher Caroline Lawson was charged with sexual assault. 26-year-old Allyson Moran was also arrested for similar crimes. The 23-year-old high school teacher Katherine Ross Ridenhour was also arrested for an inappropriate relationship.
Furthermore, Hunter Day, 22, was also arrested after a sting operation. Megan Kotarski was also arrested on similar charges. Michelle Schiffer, a 23-year-old history teacher in Texas, was also charged and arrested for allegedly having sex with a teenage student. 29-year-old Alyssia Marie Reddy was arrested in Maryland for her crimes in New Jersey. Samantha Fitzgerland, a 28-year-old, was most recently arrested and charged. Jordan Ondish was arrested for her inappropriate relationship with a 19-year-old, while 28-year-old Samantha Fitzpatrick was arrested on similar charges.
Nicole Marie Andrews was arrested as well. 32-year-old Jessica Langford was arrested and charged with sexual assault-related crimes as well. A teacher from Oregon, Andrea Baber, was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student. Robin Dunlap, a teacher in Florida, was arrested for sending illicit photos to a 15-year-old boy in Texas. Teacher and tennis coach Jennifer Olajire-Aro was also charged. 42-year-old Heather Butts of California was arrested on a second-degree felony charge. Nancy Leigh Ann Brann, a former Christian school teacher, was arrested for having sex with a student. Coine Audiat pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in 2016. 23-year-old Darci Lake was arrested for an inappropriate relationship.
