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Teen In Ex-Wharton High Coach Sex Case Pleads For Leniency

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 8, 2007

Updated: 10/08/2007 04:12 pm

12/13/05: Coach's Connection To Players Detailed

TAMPA - A former Wharton High School student who had a nearly two-year sexual relationship with her teacher and coach told a judge today she doesn't want the teacher to go to jail.

Jaymee Wallace

"I know wrong is wrong not matter how you look at it, but at the same time I feel that I was there wrong, too," the young woman told Circuit Judge J. Rodgers Padgett. "Even though I know some type of punishment is going to take place no matter how I feel, I really don't want her to go to jail."

The teacher, Jaymee Wallace, 30, could face as much as 15 years in prison after pleading guilty this morning to lewd and lascivious battery and unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Under sentencing guidelines, Wallace would receive nine years. Assistant State Attorney Kimberly Hindman told the judge she was prepared to offer a recommendation of three years behind bars.

But plea negotiations were unsuccessful, so Wallace entered an open plea, allowing the judge to decide her sentence, which is scheduled for Dec. 5. Wallace didn't speak during this morning's plea hearing, but the now-18-year-old victim did.

Hindman told Padgett the case "arose out of a consensual, a consensual in quotes relationship" that began between the coach and the victim just before the girl's 15th birthday when the girl was not legally capable of consenting. The relationship continued for nearly two years, even after Wallace was married in the summer of 2004, Hindman said.

Wallace was both the girl's math teacher and basketball coach. She stapled a note to the girl's math test telling her she found her attractive and asking what she thought of that, Hindman said. If the case went to trial, the prosecutor added, she would present witnesses to "intimate contact" between the defendant and the victim, if not actual sexual activity.

At least two witnesses would have testified that Wallace told them about the relationship and sought their advice, Hindman added.

Hindman said the prosecution "is sensitive and mindful of the wishes of the victim," but must take into account its obligation "to the public as a whole," and therefore felt a three-year sentence, followed by a term of sex-offender probation, would serve justice.

Under questioning by Hindman, the victim said Wallace counseled her about relationships, and that the two of them went out together to movies and other places away from the area of the school so they wouldn't be seen. Wallace would pick her up at her home, but sometimes picked up other girls with her as well, so as not to arouse suspicions.

One of the other girls' mothers did question the frequency of her time with Wallace, and complained to the school, the young woman said. Wallace twice told her to lie to the school about the real nature of their relationship, the victim said.

Questioned by Wallace's attorney, Joseph Bodiford, the woman said Wallace had helped her with her studies and her basketball.

"Coach found out I had an F in algebra, so she took me out of my algebra class and made me sit and study and made sure I did my homework," the woman said. "My grade went from an F to a B... There was a lot of tutoring and a lot of conditioning as far as running and a lot of times, I got a lot of help in basketball. And she taught me how to use my left hand because I wasn't too great at that. And that was a big thing."

Steve Hegarty, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Schools, said Wallace, who started working for the district in August 1999, was suspended without pay in November 2005. The district will wait until the court proceedings are concluded before making a final decision about her job. "I think it' safe to say she doesn't have a future in teaching at this point," Hegarty said.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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