Florida Teacher Arrested For Having Sex With Friend’s Minor Sons

A Florida woman was accused of having sexual relations with her friend’s two teenage boys aged 17 and 15.

The woman was identified as 34-year-old Katie Burnell and charged with unlawful sexual activity. An arrest warrant was issued in her name on Thursday.

Burnell was arrested on Thursday at her apartment. Police officials said the teens’ mother knew Burnell well and trusted her. Deputies revealed the boys would often go over to Burnell’s apartment and since their mother trusted Burnell, she thought nothing of it.

According to a report in ABC-affiliated television station WFTV News, the arrest warrant stated that officials responded to the house of the victims after a complaint from their mother.

The 17-year-old, who remained unidentified, told the police he had sex with Burnell four times last September. The arrest report also said the 15-year-old’s encounter with Burnell allegedly began over Christmas break.

According to a report in the Miami Herald, in both the cases, Burnell supposedly lured the brothers to her by asking them to rub her shoulders after which it escalated into sex on Burnell’s couch.

The incident occurred in Orange Park, a town in Clay County, Florida, and the neighbors near the area said that they were disgusted when they heard about the incident.

As of now, Burnell is at the Clay County Jail, where she's being held on a $65,000 bond.

In a fairly similar incident, an Ohio high school teacher named Hilary Dattilo was charged in connection with having a sexually inappropriate relationship with a student.

Dattilo, who was a teacher and volleyball coach at Hamilton High School before was charged in Butler County Common Pleas Court. Reports state she was charged with one count of sexual battery, which is a third-degree felony, along with one count of contributing to the wrongdoing of a minor, which is a first-degree misdemeanor. The crimes Dattilo were accused of involved a female student.

According to Hamilton Police Sgt. Brian Robinson, the alleged incident took place in the school premises.

Speaking about how the officials got to know about the alleged incident, Robinson said: “A mother of a student at Hamilton High School was concerned about a possible inappropriate relationship that a staff member was having with her daughter, so she notified the school administrators at Hamilton High School.”

The arrest report stated the crimes occurred between Oct.1 and Dec. 18, 2017.

The report from January also states that as of now Dattilo is out on bail, which was set at $5,000, after her attorney argued for a low bond, stating she did not have a criminal history and was a woman living in Butler County, Ohio, with strong family ties.

She pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her and was scheduled to appear in court in February in front of Judge Noah Powers.