SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The Punta Gorda Middle School teacher arrested and charged with sexual battery of a boy in Sarasota County has a history of suspected child abuse going back nearly a decade, investigators’ and court records indicate.
Brian L. Pavluchuk, 40, was arraigned in Sarasota County Court Friday after being charged with multiple counts of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious behavior with a child of a friend, court records say.
After Pavluchuk’s arrest July 24, Charlotte County Public Schools said he had been placed on administrative leave. “We are deeply troubled by the arrest made today involving a Charlotte County Public Schools employee,” Claudette Smith, the district’s public Information officer, said in a statement.
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“While this matter did not occur within a school setting, we want to be clear that every CCPS employee is held to the highest standards of professionalism and integrity, both on and off campus.”
A pattern of conduct
Pavluchuk, a former U.S. Marine, had been living with a man he had served with and his family in Sarasota. One of the man’s now-adult children filed a complaint July 1 alleging Pavluchuk sexually abused him multiple times over several years, from 2014 to 2017.
According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies were called to the home in 2017 after Pavluchuk allegedly had an argument with the child.
During the dispute, family members said Pavluchuk handed the boy a firearm and said “If you hate me so much, why don’t you … kill me?”
After that encounter, Pavluchuk was asked to leave the home.
In 2021, North Port Police investigated a report of inappropriate physical contact by Pavluchuk with multiple boys during his time as a Young Marines instructor with Imagine Upper Campus School, the probable cause affidavit noted.
In 2024, Pavluchuk was living in Greenville, South Carolina, where he was hired as a middle school teacher.
According to news reports, he resigned after five months on the job after he was investigated for showing an inappropriate image to his class, according to the local school district.
He then returned to Florida and was hired as a teacher at Punta Gorda Middle School, despite Greenville County Schools saying it never received a request for a reference from the Florida school district or any other employer.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, with help from the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Task Force, arrested Pavluchuk July 24 at his home in Arcadia.
This investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information about this case or other possible victims is asked to call the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office at 941-861-4900.
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