A man who Hollywood police say worked as the band director at South Broward High School is accused of having a sexual affair with a teenage student at the school.
Ricardo Emanuel Esquilin, 28, had an inappropriate relationship with the 17-year-old girl between early November and the end of December of last year, according to a Hollywood police arrest report.
An investigation of Esquilin began after the girl’s mother had seen an exchange of text messages on her daughter’s cellphone, the report said.
In an interview with detectives, the girl said the two first had an encounter “inside his [Esquilin’s] back office of the band room,” and then in his car, at a drive-in movie and at both their residences when no one was home.
Esquilin, who is a 2008 graduate of South Broward High School at 1901 N. Federal Hwy., told investigators he knows that his actions were wrong and that there would be consequences.
According to the arrest report, since the investigation started, a former student of the school came forward and told police about an intimate relationship with Esquilin four years ago when she was 16 and before he began to work at the school.
The case has been handed over to the Broward State Attorney’s Office, the report said.
Esquilin’s employment history with the Broward school district was not immediately available. On Thursday morning the website for South Broward High School listed him as “Director of Bands,” though he reportedly no longer works at the school.
Esquilin was booked into Broward’s jail Wednesday afternoon on a charge of sex battery by a custodian of someone between the ages of 12 and 18.
This story will be updated. Check back for additional information.