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Former Military Instructor Gets Prison For Luring Student

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By TODD RUGER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 15, 2008

  Demetrius Busby

SARASOTA COUNTY — A former military instructor at Sarasota High School was sentenced to 12 years in prison for luring a student into sex acts.

Demetrius Busby, a former Army infantryman who taught in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program at the school, pleaded guilty Friday as part a deal with prosecutors.

Busby has been jailed since May 30, when detectives accused him of repeatedly molesting a teenager he knew in the JROTC program. He also pleaded guilty to charges he showed sexual material two other students.

In one case, a teenager said Busby gave him a pornographic video. Another teenager, 16 years old, said he and Busby spoke on the telephone and sent each other text messages.

Busby bolted from school when he found out about the investigation, leaving behind a half-eaten lunch as he ran from campus, according to detectives.

Busby was gone for at least a day, until detectives caught up with him at a hotel on University Parkway.

Shortly after Busby's arrest, detectives raided the home and found various sex items and a marijuana pipe.

After a 24-year military career, Busby began working at similar JROTC programs in Florida. He started at Sarasota High School in August 2006.

Busby enlisted in 1982, served as an infantryman in the Gulf War and earned an Army Commendation Medal before he retired from the Army in 2006, military records show. He was active in recruiting, and worked closely with other Florida high schools over the past two years.

JROTC programs operate at thousands of schools throughout the country, and are taught by ex-military personnel who train young people for a career in the service.

Busby was a volunteer at the Gainesville High School program until 2004.

In Boca Raton, Busby was instrumental in establishing a Navy JROTC program in the mid-1990s, where a leader said he gained the trust of both students and instructors, and was considered a good friend to most of the students in the program.

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