Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Prep School Teacher Charged With Rape for Sex With Student at Club, DA Says

 David Azurmendi, 34, was arrested after having sex with a 16-year-old student at the club Lit Lounge.
David Azurmendi, 34, was arrested after having sex with a 16-year-old student at the club Lit Lounge.
View Full Caption
Shutterstock

MANHATTAN — A Financial District private school teacher was charged with rape after having sex with a 16-year-old student inside the East Village club Lit Lounge, police said.

David Azurmendi, 34, a teacher at Léman Preparatory School, was charged with third-degree rape for having sex with the student at the 93 Second Ave. bar on June 19, police said.

Azurmendi was a health teacher and coach at the exclusive private school, which charges upwards of $43,650 a year in tuition, according to the school's website.

The Daily News reported that Azurmendi, a married father of two who lives in Summit, N.J., met up with the student after she invited him to the lounge, where she had been drinking. The pair then reportedly had sex in the bar's bathroom. 

The teen allegedly told a fellow student about what happened, and the student told the school's principal, who called police, according to the Daily News.

The incident happened on what was Azurmendi's last day of teaching at the school, as he was going to take a new job at a private boarding school for boys in Vermont, the Daily News reported.

According to the New York Post, Azurmendi told police the sex was consensual.

Azurmendi was arrested on July 29 and arraigned Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of rape, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sexual abuse, according to the criminal complaint.

His bail was set at $5,000, and he's due back in court on Aug. 4, according to the Manhattan DA's office.

"[Azurmendi] looks forward to having his day in court," Azurmendi attorney's Aaron Wallenstein said. "She was not a student of his...they met in a club where presumably every one is of age."

Wallenstein declined to comment about how the two ended up at the club at the same time, or about any relationship they may have had before meeting up that night.

The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment.