Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox criminal Debra Jean Williams (née Beasley; born August 28, 1980),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> better known under her former married name of Debra Lafave, is a former teacher at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery against a teenager. The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old student in summer of 2004 when she was 23. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years of house arrest due to safety concerns, seven years of probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Early life and educationEdit
Lafave attended East Bay High School until 1996. From 1995 to 1996, Lafave dated Nick Carter. She also had a lesbian relationship with a classmate by the name of Casie Diana Martinez, and it was because of that relationship Lafave's parents withdrew her from East Bay.<ref>https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2005/11/23/evidence-painted-lurid-picture-of-relationships/ Evidence painted lurid picture of relationships</ref> She graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 1998. Around that time, she took a gig as a Pin-up model for the magazine Makes & Models (M&M),<ref> |url = https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2004/07/04/1-teacher-sex-case-nabs-much-bigger-spotlight/31670238007/ archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202160042 | 1 teacher sex case nabs much bigger spotlight</ref> which when the story of the sex scandal broke, her modelling photos from that time would contribute to sensationalising of the story.<ref> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/24/usa.gender Too pretty for prison </ref> She attended the University of South Florida,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> during which time her then 24-year-old pregnant older sister Angela “Angie” Beasley was killed by a drunk driver on April 2001.<ref name="auto"/> Despite the tragedy and trauma of losing her older sister, Lafave still managed to graduate with a degree in English.<ref name=lauer>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After college graduation in 2002, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In July 19, 2003, following her first year of teaching, she married Owen Lafave.<ref name=lauer/>
Crime, first arrest and trialEdit
Lafave, then 23, was charged with statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old male student; she engaged in oral sex and vaginal intercourse with the student on four occasions:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> once in the bedroom of her Riverview town house Condominium, once in her portable classroom, and multiple times in her car; a silver 2002 model Isuzu Rodeo Sports.<ref>https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/middle-school-sex-scandal Temple Terrace Police Department Supplemental Report: Case #2004-02599 (Page 1)</ref><ref>https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/reading-teacher-booked?page=2 Reading Teacher Booked; Woman, 23, busted for "encounters" with boy, 14</ref>
In April 2004, Lafave first met the student while she was helping out a friend, the football coach, at the school’s tag football game. Lafave had already garnered a reputation among the male students as being the young attractive “hot” teacher, and the student, being one of the players on the team and not being Lafave’s student, knew of Lafave beforehand. The student approached Lafave along with his friend.
In May 2004, during the final week of school, on grad night, where the graduating class (including the student) took a trip to SeaWorld Orlando, which Lafave chaperoned, the student and Lafave got a chance to get to know each other. They developed a close relationship with one another, despite the presence of Lafave’s husband, Owen Lafave, on the trip.<ref>Crossing the line</ref> That week, Lafave went out of the way to put the student on detention to spend time with her in the detention room, even sometimes inviting his friends. Other times she would ask the student to stay after school to be with her. It was around that time when the two allegedly first kissed when on one of the occasions Lafave asked the student (along with his friends) to clean her portable classroom. The student asked Lafave to flash her breast at him. Allegedly Lafave only pulled up her shirt to reveal a tiny bit of the bottom of her bra, but when the student's friends left and Lafave was alone with the student, the two kissed, according to the student. On the last day of school, one of the other students hosted a party inviting the student that Lafave had a love interest with, and Lafave came with the student, being the only teacher at that party.<ref>https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/middle-school-sex-scandal Middle School Sex Scandal; Reports detail Florida teacher's lewd encounters with boy, 14</ref><ref>Reading Teacher Booked</ref> When curiosity arose about Ms. Lafave's presence, the student referred to her as his "girlfriend". By the end of the party, after driving all the other students home Lafave gave the student her number and allegedly was already talking about plans to have sex with the student. During the start of the summer holidays leading up to the first sexual encounter, Lafave and the student would talk on the phone often and Lafave would regularly drive the student to his summer activities and would regularly kiss on those car rides. It was around that time that Lafave opened up to the student that she was thinking about the student a lot and had feelings for him and could not get rid of those feelings.
At one point in the sexual relationship, Lafave gave the boy a pewter key pendant that was a butterfly on one side and the word “Hope” on the other. She told the boy that she had one just like it for herself and wanted him to have one also as a symbol of the bond of their relationship.<ref>https://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/middle-school-sex-scandal?page=1 Temple Terrace Police Department Supplemental Report Case #2004-02599 (page 2)</ref>
Lafave’s sexual relationship with the student was exposed when the two went to visit the student’s cousin in Ocala; the very trip of what would end up being their final sexual encounter. His aunt (the accompanying cousin’s mother) who was living in Ocala at the time happened to have spotted the student and Lafave in a parking lot and was alarmed at seeing him in the company of a provocatively dressed woman. Upon calling and asking her son (the student’s accompanying cousin) to enquire about the situation, the cousin told his mother that the older woman was the sister of a mutual friend of theirs from the University of Florida and that they were buying Father’s Day presents together. Unconvinced, the aunt then alerted the student’s mother. Under intense questioning from his mother, the boy admitted that the woman was Lafave. Officers in Temple Terrace recorded conversations between Lafave and the boy, then arrested her at their next meeting. Two separate sets of charges were filed, because the alleged incidents occurred in both Riverview, in Hillsborough County, and Ocala, in Marion County.<ref name="Krause2005">Template:Cite news</ref> A trial date was set after the prosecution and defense could not agree on a plea bargain that involved prison time. Lafave faced a sentence of 5 to 15 years for each of the two counts of which she was accused.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, Lafave pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of community control (house arrest) and seven years of sex offender probation. Prosecutors defended the deal, saying that sex offender probation in Florida is quite difficult to complete; Lafave could have gone to jail if she violated any of the probation terms.<ref name="Krause2005"/><ref name=SPTimesStatement/>
Lafave's guilty plea effectively ended her teaching career. As part of her plea deal, she was required to surrender her teaching license and was banned from ever teaching in Florida again.<ref name="Krause2005"/> Under the terms of her probation, she had to be home by 10 p.m. every day, could not leave Hillsborough County without a judge's permission, and could not be around minors. She also had to register as a sex offender.<ref name="Krause2005"/><ref name=reinstatement/> There was widespread skepticism as to whether a man guilty of lewd or lascivious battery would have received equally mild punishment.<ref name="Krause2005" /><ref name="notorious">Fatal Beauty: 15 Most Notorious Women, E! Network, June 6, 2009.</ref>
On December 8, 2005, Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil rejected the plea deal, claiming that any agreement that did not require Lafave to serve some prison time "would undermine the credibility of this court, and the criminal justice system as a whole, and would erode public confidence in our schools." He set a trial date for April 10, 2006. The Marion County state's attorney subsequently dropped the charges.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a statement, the prosecutors cited an assessment by psychologist Martin Lazoritz that found the victim would be so severely traumatized by a potential trial that it would take as long as eight years for him to recover.<ref name=SPTimesStatement>Template:Cite news</ref>
Physical appearanceEdit
The issue of Lafave's attractive physical appearance became a point of argument in court. Lafave's lawyer John Fitzgibbons stated, "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hellhole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions." Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian asserted that Lafave avoided jail time due to a faulty belief among Americans that she was "too pretty for prison".<ref name=pretty>Template:Cite news</ref> Ariel Levy, writing in New York, called Fitzgibbons's statement "notorious",<ref name=Levy>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Lafave's ex-husband criticized it.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Commentators have claimed that the attention given to this particular case arose from Lafave's physical appearance.<ref name=pretty/><ref name=Levy/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=lauer-preview>Template:Cite news</ref> Provocative modeling photographs of Lafave have circulated on the Internet since she first gained notoriety.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Temple Terrace Police Department came under scrutiny for taking graphic nude photos of Lafave while Lafave was in stirrups in a jail cell. The lead detective who requested the nude photos of Lafave, was arrested before the trial in an unrelated prostitution sting.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Second arrest and violation of probationEdit
Lafave was arrested on December 4, 2007, for violating her probation by speaking with a 17-year-old restaurant co-worker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The court ruled, however, that the violation was neither willful nor substantial, and it did not revoke her probation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
AftermathEdit
Lafave later attributed her criminal actions to bipolar disorder, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings, and with hypersexuality and poor judgement during manic episodes. She was also treated for bipolar disorder after allegedly being raped at age 13 by a classmate.<ref name=lauer-preview/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref>
In July 2008, within the terms of her plea deal, Lafave petitioned to convert the remainder of her house arrest to probation, having satisfied other terms such as sex offender therapy and community service. Her petition was granted and her house arrest ended four months early.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On October 29, 2009, Lafave was cleared to have unsupervised contact with some children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On September 22, 2011, Lafave moved to end her probation four years early, based upon having completed all other obligations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her petition was granted and her probation ended that day. The victim's family stated that they would appeal the decision.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The early termination of probation was reversed by the 2nd District Court of Appeals on August 15, 2012.<ref name=reinstatement>Template:Cite news</ref>
Lafave asked the Florida Supreme Court to reinstate her release from probation.<ref name="release">Template:Cite news</ref> On January 24, 2013, Lafave was ordered to continue her probation while the Florida Supreme Court waited to hear the case.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2014, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lafave.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
The novel Tampa, by Alissa Nutting, was inspired by the case of Debra Lafave.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- Hebephilia
- Jennifer Fichter
- Mary Kay Letourneau
- Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy
- Pamela Joan Rogers
- Sexual harassment in education
- Statutory rape#Female-male statutory rape
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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