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What's Going On With Stephanie Ragusa's Smile?

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 29, 2008

TAMPA When the door opened Monday at the Hillsborough sheriff's office, Stephanie Ragusa walked out wearing handcuffs and a wide grin.

"Stephanie, why the smile?" a reporter asked.

Ragusa grinned more broadly, shook her head and continued walking toward the patrol cruiser that would haul her to jail.

The school teacher's toothy smile — spread across newspapers, TV and the Internet — has become her public trademark. It is there in three booking mug shots that followed her three arrests on charges she had sex with underage boys.

"She doesn't seem like this is serious," said Karen A. Duncan, a sex assault therapist in Indianapolis who has studied women as sex offenders.

Ragusa seems to be a member of a new category of sexual offenders, Duncan said: young, attractive, professional and predatory women who target underage boys. Another in the group is Debra Lafave, the blond former Greco Middle School teacher who was sentenced to house arrest after pleading guilty in 2005 to having sex with a 14-year-old student.

"I think something is going on with a certain group of young women and the media attention," Duncan said. "They seem to be seeking the media attention. Some sort of need is being met for them. … They kind of pose for the camera and they dress up."

Duncan emphasized the word "predatory" in describing them. Female sex offenders, she said, prey on teenagers' vulnerability and sexual curiosity.

Media attention seems to give them celebrity status, Duncan said, even though it's negative.

Still, she said, this behavior seems to conflict with their professional lives.

"There's an immaturity I see in these women. I don't think they see the seriousness of the situation or their behavior."

A Desire For Attention?

In a court hearing Tuesday, where a judge was to determine whether Ragusa should be jailed without bail pending trial, she gave short perky answers as the judge asked her questions.

"Do you understand there currently is no bond in your case and that's the way it's going to stay until the court rules otherwise?" Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett said.

"OK," Ragusa responded cheerfully, breaking into a smile.

The smile lasted for the remaining moments of the hearing.

Bonnie Bucqueroux, who runs the Victims and the Media program at Michigan State University, wondered whether female teachers who have sex with their students are doing it for media attention.

"It gives them their Paris Hilton 15 minutes" of fame, Bucqueroux said. "Does it spark that sort of behavior or was it there all along? I find that to be a difficult question to answer."

Bucqueroux, 64, said teens and their teachers have been blurring the lines of relationships for years. When she was 13 in the eighth grade, Bucqueroux said, she tried to seduce a teacher. He declined but she said she still managed to get one of his colleagues to kiss her after a dance.

She acknowledged, however, that sex between an underage teen and an authority figure is a "recipe for disaster."

And that is where the emphasis should remain, Duncan said.

At 16, a student might not view himself as a victim.

"He's interested in the sex she has to offer," Duncan said.

Deputies have said the teen and Ragusa may have had sex 20 times or more, and it continued after he knew she had been arrested for it. His sexual values may be forming along negative lines, such as manipulation and his own sexual satisfaction, Duncan said.

"'I was used by a woman so now I'm going to use a woman and not give a care about my consequences,'" Duncan said the teen may reason.

He may not be doing this consciously, she said, but this is how he was introduced to sex.

Duncan said she does not mean to suggest the victim is the aggressor. Rather, she aims to highlight the effects of victimization.

Compulsion And Competency

If the latest charges against Ragusa are true, if she had sex with her victim even while out on bail, she is showing a compulsion typical of sex offenders, Duncan said. When a therapist treats a sex offender, she said, the treatment is similar to therapy for addictions.

"It's the belief that somehow what they're doing isn't wrong, and there is some sort of a love interest here," Duncan said. "Love validates the behavior."

Brian Gonzalez, a Tampa defense lawyer not affiliated with Ragusa's case, said the way she has presented herself makes him wonder whether competency will become an issue as she builds a defense.

"Certainly, as much trouble as she has right now," Gonzalez said, "the fact that in the face of all this publicity she still could not conform and go back and engage in this behavior lends itself to competency issues."

Legally, competency can affect a case in two ways. Attorneys can argue that defendants are not competent to assist in their defense or they were not competent when they committed the crime. In the latter case, they do not realize their actions are wrong, also known as an insanity defense.

"Legal insanity is obviously an extremely difficult defense to lean on," Gonzalez said.

The threshold is high from psychological and legal standpoints, he said. Asked how often it works in Hillsborough County, Gonzalez responded: "Rare to none."

Gonzalez said he expects Ragusa's attorney will have her evaluated by a mental health professional. Even if she is not deemed incompetent, the information could prove valuable in reducing a sentence should she be found guilty.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com

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