A Pasco County Schools teacher has been arrested and charged with sexual battery custodial authority on a student, according to a release from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives said the investigtion into 32-year-old Kyle Handfield began on January 2, 2022, after they received information about an inappropriate relationship between Handfield and a student that was 14 years old at the time of the incident.
According to the sheriff's department, the investigation determined that Handfield started to communicate with the victim through a social networking website and the inappropriate sexual activity took place between 2017 and 2018 while the victim was a student at Pinellas Park Middle School, where Handfield was the victim's teacher.
Handfield is a former Pinellas County Schools teacher and worked at Pinellas Park Middle School from March of 2015 until August of 2020 and has been employed with Pasco County Schools at Fivay High School since August of 2020.
Detectives are unaware if there are additional victims.
Authorities ask anyone with more information to call Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, Crimes Against Children Unit, Detective Leib at 727-582-6566.