Teacher Charged In Student Tryst

Newlywed Allegedly Had Affair With 14-Year-Old Boy





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Teacher Debra Beasley LaFave is escorted past the press after turning herself in  (AP)



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(CBS/AP) A newlywed middle school teacher has been charged with having sex numerous times with a 14-year-old student, including in a classroom, her apartment and once in a vehicle while his 15-year-old cousin drove.

Debra Beasley Lafave, 23, turned herself in to authorities in Ocala Monday. She was released on $25,000 bail.

Lafave, of Riverview, is a reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, a few miles north of Tampa. She was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition.

Authorities say Lafave, who has been married less than a year, had sex with the student in the back of her sport utility vehicle while the student's 15-year-old cousin drove them around the Ocala area.

Monday's charges are in addition to those from last week's arrest in Temple Terrace, when she was charged with two counts of committing lewd and lascivious battery for allegedly having sex with the teen in a portable classroom at her school. She was out on bond from last week's arrest when she turned herself in Monday.

Lafave's lawyer, John Fitzgibbons, said he was not ready to respond to the allegations.

"There is a presumption of innocence in this country, and I hope people will give Debbie that presumption," he said.

Marion County detectives said the boy and his cousin provided matching statements incriminating the teacher.

"They also knew intimate details about the teacher," Detective Chris Haworth said.

Specifically, the 14-year-old was able to identify tattoos and birthmarks on Lafave's body and the layout of her apartment, particularly her bedroom.

The teen told investigators that he and Lafave got to know each other on their way back from a middle school graduating class trip to SeaWorld Orlando last month.

He said that she would invite him to her class during detention and ended up taking him to his basketball practices at a recreation center, to get his hair cut and to his house, the report said.

Lafave gave the boy her cell phone number on the last day of school, the boy told detectives. The sexual relationship allegedly began on June 3.

Lafave, who has worked with the Hillsborough County school system for two years, has been placed on administrative duty and could be suspended without pay following the next school board meeting, officials said.

The boy told detectives that Lafave told him that her marriage was in trouble and that she was aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed.

If convicted, Lafave could receive up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.






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PARENTS' WORST NIGHTMARE
More than 4.5 million children are forced to endure sexual misconduct by school employees, from inappropriate comments to physical abuse, according to an exhaustive review of research that reads like a parent's worst nightmare.

The best estimate is that almost one in 10 children, sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade, are targets of behavior ranging from unprofessional to criminal, says the report for Congress by Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University's School of Education.

"Most people just don't think this can really happen," said Shakeshaft, hired by the Education Department to study the prevalence of sexual abuse in schools.

Some educators immediately took issue with its approach, mainly the combining of sexual abuse with other behavior, such as gestures or notes, into one broad misconduct category.

Misconduct is defined in the report as physical, verbal or visual behavior, from sexually related jokes or pictures of sex to fondling of breasts and forced sex. Shakeshaft did not limit her review to sexual abuse because, she says, that would exclude other unacceptable adult behaviors that can drive kids from school and harm them for years.

The report found teachers are the most common offenders, followed by coaches, substitute teachers, bus drivers and teacher aides. Among students, 56 percent of those targeted are girls, and 44 percent are boys, a smaller gap than commonly expected, Shakeshaft said. (AP/CBS)