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Teacher accused of damaging car

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By TONY HOLT | Hernando Today

Published: September 21, 2009

Updated: 09/21/2009 05:57 pm

Julia Hnatiuk

BROOKSVILLE - A local teacher turned herself in to authorities Friday after a video camera caught her in the act of scratching a woman's SUV outside of Explorer K-8, deputies said.
Julia C. Hnatiuk, 48, of 8768 Mississippi Run in Brooksville, was charged with criminal mischief. She is a paraprofessional, or a teacher's aide, at the school's pre-kindergarten department, according to human resources.
Sgt. Donna Black, a spokeswoman with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, said Hnatiuk is employed at Pine Grove Elementary School.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Friday, Hnatiuk arrived at Explorer, located at 10252 Northcliffe Blvd., during a parent open house, according to an arrest report. She exited through a rear door and propped it open with a bottle so she could "obtain re-entry into the school," the report stated.
The door leads to the rear parking lot, where Hnatiuk took a blunt object, presumably one of her keys, pressed it against the driver's side of a 2007 GMC Yukon and walked the length of the car, causing $1,200 in damage, Hernando County Sheriff's deputies said.
The incident was captured on video and the suspect was identified through a community alert bulletin on the sheriff's office Web site, according to the report.
A deputy who works at West Hernando Middle School recognized Hnatiuk, who used to be employed at the school, Black said.
Hnatiuk said a similar vehicle had cut her off along the roadway earlier in the day and it was out of anger that she damaged the SUV in the Explorer parking lot, deputies said.
"There was nothing to indicate it was the vehicle at all," Black said.
Hnatiuk could not recall what she used to cause the damage, the report shows.
She turned herself in at the Hernando County Jail shortly before 8 p.m. after authorities contacted her, deputies said.
Hnatiuk's husband, Glen Hnatiuk, is a gym teacher at Explorer. The owner of the damaged vehicle, Catherine Lovitt, also is a gym teacher at the school, according to its Web site.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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