Debra Lafave
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Debra Jean Beasley (born August 28, 1980) is a former reading teacher at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida when she was charged with several counts of having illegal sex with a minor in 2005.
LaFave claimed she was raped by a schoolmate at age 13. She sang professionally, did some modeling, and had several relationships. After a high school lesbian affair was discovered, she entered therapy.
She graduated from the University of South Florida, and began teaching remedial reading. Highly popular with the students, she occasionally dressed inappropriately, sometimes wearing a very short skirt or a low-cut blouse showing cleavage.
According to the book Gorgeous Disaster, by her ex-husband Owen Lafave, she met the 14-year-old student at an after-school tag football game. The relationship developed over a period of weeks. Shortly after school ended for the year, she drove the boy to her home and performed fellatio on him. From then, the relationship turned intimate; they had sex in the back of her SUV while it was being driven by the boy's cousin.
The boy's mother soon learned of the affair and notified the police. They tape-recorded conversations between the lovers, then arrested LaFave when she drove to the boy's home to pick him up. The boy gave police an accurate description of her tattoos, tan lines, and pubic area. One European newspaper published the boy's name and photo; legal action by his mother led to it being removed from the paper's website.
Because sexual activity took place in two different counties, two separate sets of charges were filed. A trial date was set for December 5 at a court hearing after the prosecution and the defense could not agree on a plea bargain. The prosecution's plea deal involved prison time, which Debra and her parents found unacceptable. Debra's defense attorney caused a national stir that made headlines by remarking to the media that "To place Debbie into a Florida state women's penitentiary, to place an attractive young woman in that kind of hell hole, is like putting a piece of raw meat in with the lions." Owen LaFave's book suggests that this statement was an intentional ploy by the attorney.
Owen LaFave's book reports that the Temple Terrace police ordered photographs be taken of Lafave's genital area while her feet were bound up in stirrups.
Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, the boy's mother, who had been insisting that Debra serve time in prison, learned that the trial was to be covered by Court TV and changed her stance, agreeing to a plea bargain with no prison time to save her son from having to testify in court. A new plea agreement was quickly worked out.
On November 22, 2005, Debra pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of Community Control (house arrest) and seven years of probation, along with a string of other requirements.
However, on December 8, 2005, the judge in the second county refused to accept plea-agreement terms that included no prison time, and set a trial date for April 10, 2006. In an unusual act, the prosecutor announced the charges were being dropped, overruling the judge.
LaFave is serving probation until 2015 and her teaching certificate has been revoked.
LaFave attributed her indiscretions to bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings and with hypersexuality and poor judgment during manic episodes. [1] [2] [3]
On September 29, 2006, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter stated on the Howard Stern show that he lost his virginity to Debra Lafave when they were classmates.[4]
[edit] Further reading
- Lafave, Owen. "Gorgeous Disaster: The Tragic Story of Debra Lafave", Phoenix Books, September 13, 2006. (Tampa, Florida)* Sager, Michele. "Teacher's Past Offers Glimpse At Her Hopes For The Future", The Tampa Tribune, July 1, 2004. (Tampa, Florida)
- Price, Mike. "Teacher Accused of Sex with Student Turns Herself In", WCJB TV-20 News, June 28, 2004. (Gainesville, Florida)
[edit] See also
- Sexual harassment in education
- Sexual abuse
- Child sexual abuse
- Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy, a South Park episode inspired by Lafave
- Carlos Mencia, performed a skit on his show where he gave the "victim" boy a "Dee Dee Dee" award for turning in his "smoking hot teacher".
