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Chats With Teen Co-Worker Led To Lafave's Arrest

CHRIS COYNER / News Channel 8 Image

Debra Lafave and her mother declined to talk to reporters as they walked through the Orient Road Jail parking lot.

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2007

Photos | Videos: Debra Lafave Walks Into Jail | Debra Lafave Walks Out Of Jail

TAMPA - Private conversations with an underage female co-worker landed Debra Lafave in jail Tuesday afternoon, just days before she was expected to request early release from house arrest.

   Debra Lafave

Lafave and the 17-year-old discussed "family problems, friends, high school, personal life, boyfriend issues and sexual issues" while working at a Sun City Center restaurant, according to an arrest report. The conversations violated conditions of her house arrest, according to the report.

A former English teacher at Greco Middle School, Lafave pleaded guilty Nov. 22, 2005, to charges that she committed lewd and lascivious battery by having sex with a 14-year-old student. She was 24 at the time. She is not to have any unsupervised contact with minors, according to the rules of her house arrest.

At her probation officer's instruction, Lafave quit working at Danny Boy's on Nov. 20, the document shows.

Lafave was arrested at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at her mother's barbershop, where the former teacher cleans, mops floors and performs reception work. Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett, when presented with the house arrest violation document, checked a box allowing for Lafave's release on her own recognizance. She walked out of the Orient Road Jail about 3 p.m. There is no court date set.

Asked by a reporter why she was arrested, Lafave teared up.

"I have no idea," she said.

Lafave's mother, who accompanied her, said they had no further comment.

Her attorney, John Fitzgibbons, said Padgett's decision to release Lafave should show "how insignificant this issue is."

A judge almost never releases a sex offender who violated house arrest, he said.

"I would characterize this as simply girl talk or guy talk among fellow employees in the workplace," Fitzgibbons said.

The 17-year-old coworker's mother said she did not want her daughter to comment.

The investigation was prompted because Lafave was uncooperative in providing answers to her probation officer, Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said. Plessinger couldn't give details on what Lafave was asked.

The probation officer went to the restaurant several times as part of the investigation, she said.

Under the terms of Lafave's plea deal, she was to spend three years on house arrest, then seven on sex-offender probation. Had she been convicted at trial, she could have faced up to 15 years in prison on each of the two charges.

A provision of her deal states that she could ask the court to commute the final year of house arrest to probation if she completes the first two years without incident. Fitzgibbons said he still expects to file a request to end her house arrest. It is unclear how Tuesday's arrest will affect that request.

Fitzgibbons said failure rates for house arrest are as high as 90 percent. Lafave, he said, has been an exception.

"Every report I have seen says she's doing great," Fitzgibbons said.

Lafave's probation officer, Michael Cotignola, recommended in his report that Lafave receive a prison sentence. If a judge decides to return her to probation instead, Cotignola suggests she should not be allowed to have early release from house arrest.

Fitzgibbons acknowledged a violation of house arrest could result in 30 years in prison - the maximum punishment for her crime.

Since 2004, Florida probation officers have worked under a "zero-tolerance" policy, where they must report all willful violations of probation or house arrest, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jo Ellyn Rackleff.

Lafave worked at Danny Boy's for nearly two years and was an excellent employee, said Scott Griffin, 28, restaurant manager.

Griffin said he received a phone call from the probation office that Lafave would no longer be working at the restaurant.

"With no explanations," Griffin said. "We're all completely shocked."

News Channel 8 reporters Natalie Shepherd and Claudia DoCampo and Tribune reporter Chris Echegaray contributed to this report. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib .com.

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