Orlando Teacher Who Enticed Children into Performing Sexual Acts in Exchange for Video Game Currency, Sentenced to Life

Italo Brett Bonini, a former Orange County teacher, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for enticing children into sex acts online using video game currency.

Bonini, a music teacher at Hunter’s Creek Middle School who also taught private music lessons to children, pleaded guilty to one count of enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count of production of child sexual abuse material in May.

According to investigators, Bonini chatted with two young children from Maryland through the online communication platform Discord, as reported by WESH.

Bonini was accused of offering an 8-year-old boy and his younger brother video game currency in exchange for the victims showing their genitals on screen. The boys’ father later found disturbing messages between Bonini and his son, leading to his arrest. During an interview with the FBI, Bonini stated he joined Discord to have conversations and for sexual gratification.

The U.S. attorney’s office revealed evidence from the online chats, which showed he attempted to victimize at least 20 other children using the internet. Each chat with potential victims followed a similar pattern of Brett Bonini lying about his identity, making sexual advances, and attempting to have a video call with the children who identified themselves as minors.

In a handwritten letter to the court and the victims, Bonini expressed remorse, writing, “I deserve to be punished, there is no doubt in my mind about it because every action has a consequence, and I am ready to accept mine for engaging in this shameful behavior with children.”