JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New and disturbing details were uncovered by the News4JAX I-TEAM regarding the arrest of the owner of a once popular Jacksonville driving school accused of soliciting a child for sex.
The I-TEAM has learned the alleged victim of Cody Satornino, 31, was a student he was teaching to drive.
Satornino is the owner and also an instructor at My E-Z Pass Driving and Traffic School.
We’ve been looking into the business since customers started calling the I-TEAM for help, saying they paid hundreds of dollars for driving lessons that they didn’t get.
When we tried to locate Satornino to get answers, we found him booked in the Duval County Jail.
He’s charged with child abuse, solicitation of a child via computer to engage in sexual conduct and transmission of material harmful to a minor.
In a police report obtained by the I-TEAM, we learned his accuser is a teenager he was teaching to drive and the activities for which he was arrested began during her sixth lesson, which was a night driving lesson where he told the student to drive downtown so he could show the teen clubs in the area.
At one point Satornino instructed the teen to drive down a side street and put the car in park at a stop sign, according to the report.
The report is heavily redacted to protect the victim, but it does say the actions of Satornino caused the victim to visibly shake.
As for My E-Z Pass Driving and Traffic School itself, while the I-TEAM hasn’t heard back from anyone at the business, someone representing the driving school responded to some of the online customer complaints, saying it closed down unexpectedly due to medical reasons and the economy -- with no mention of refunds.
We are still trying to learn more about the crimes Santornino is accused of committing against the teenager he was teaching to drive. We do know he is still behind bars with a $300,000 bond and is tentatively scheduled for his next court hearing Sept. 13.