Teacher Sex Plea Deal In Doubt

Judge Wants Changes Made To Deal Agreed To By Former Fla. Teacher

(AP)  A hitch has developed in a plea deal agreed to by a former teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old student, a spokesman for the prosecutor said.

The agreement was meant to resolve charges against Debra Lafave, 25, in two counties. But the judge in one of the counties has balked, Ric Ridgeway, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office, said Thursday.

Lafave was sentenced to three years of house arrest and seven years probation after pleading guilty last month in Hillsborough County to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

That plea agreement was supposed to also cover charges in Marion County, where Lafave allegedly had sex with the boy in a sport utility vehicle while his 15-year-old cousin drove.

But Judge Hale Stancil wasn't happy with an agreement the Marion County prosecutors reached with defense attorney John Fitzgibbons and asked for some changes, Ridgeway said.

Fitzgibbons said the judge indicated that he wanted to hear expert information about a trial's potential impact on the two boys involved.

Ridgeway said the attorneys would take a new plea deal to the judge.

Lafave's sexual liaisons made tabloid headlines.

Last month, a Hillsborough judge said she will forever lose her teaching certificate, must register with the state as a sexual predator, may not have any contact with children including the victim, and will not be allowed to profit from the sale of her story or personal appearances.