A former track and field coach, security assistant and paraeducator at Northwood High School is expected to serve one year in prison and will be listed as a sex offender for life after he was sentenced Wednesday for the sexual abuse of a student, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael McAuliffe sentenced Giovanni Reumante, 34, of Takoma Park to five years, with all but one year suspended, and three years of supervised probation upon release, the State’s Attorney’s Office said in a press release. As part of a plea agreement, Reumante waived two years of credit for time served.
Reumante pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of a minor on Nov. 1, 2022, according to the release.
According to the charging documents, Reumante and a female student at the Silver Spring school met during the 2014-2015 school year. Reumante was an assistant coach for the school’s track team when the victim joined the team as a 15-year-old sophomore. The victim texted Reumante, asking him a question about track, which kicked off an ongoing conversation that became flirtatious. Reumante called her “very beautiful” and said he wanted to marry her, according to the charging documents.
During the 2015-2016 school year, Reumante continued to be a coach and also was employed as a paraeducator at the school, meaning he was on school premises during the day, according to charging documents. At that point, he and the student began a romantic relationship and had their first kiss on school grounds, charging documents stated.
The victim told police that the relationship progressed, with Reumante becoming more physical with her, and “taking steps to ‘warm her up’ to being involved in a physical relationship,” charging documents said. The pair repeatedly hung out during lunch, sometimes leaving the school grounds, and traveling to Reumante’s residence.
The relationship continued over the summer and into the 2016-2017 school year when the student was a senior, charging documents said. The victim said that once she turned 17, she and Reumante began to have sexual intercourse, which occurred in his car, at his residence, in Wheaton Regional Park, in the parking lot of Westfield Wheaton Mall and at other locations, according to charging documents.
The victim said that her family, friends and school staff and students did not know about the relationship while she was in high school, according to the charging documents. At age 22, the victim came forward to Montgomery County police, who interviewed her in November 2021.
Reumante was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Dec. 28, 2021, after returning from the Dominican Republic.
The State’s Attorney’s Office did not provide additional comment on the case, and Reumante’s attorneys, Michael Lawlor and Adam Demetriou, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.