BOCA RATON, FLA. (WSVN) - Video has been released of a fourth-grade teacher kissing a male student on the mouth.
Twenty-nine-year-old Brian Kornbluth pleaded guilty on May 16 to kissing the 10-year-old boy in his classroom at Somerset Academy charter school in Boca Raton.
Surveillance video from Feb. 9 released Tuesday showed the teacher at his desk hugging and then kissing the boy on the lips.
The student initially denied the exchange.
The boy’s sister said Kornbluth offered them gummy bears in exchange for kisses.
According to his attorney, Kornbluth and the boy’s family had a relationship. His attorney said Kornbluth cared for the two children for more than a year. She said her client would never inappropriately do anything to harm the children.
Another teacher told the principal she was concerned because Kornbluth was giving preference to young boys. She said he kept asking the young boys to come to his class.
The school repositioned the camera in Kornbluth’s classroom to show his desk area and caught him kissing the boy.
Kornbluth pleaded guilty to one count of simple battery. According to his attorney, he did not want the children to have to testify.
Kornbluth is now on one year probation, after which he can get the incident expunged from his record completely.
Adjudication was withheld, so Kornbluth can continue to teach. He said he hopes to work as a teacher again one day at a different school. He is no longer teaching at Somerset Academy.
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