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Lafave Spared Prison Time

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 11, 2008

Updated: 01/11/2008 12:15 am

TAMPA - Conversations with an underage girl that included handshakes, hugs and slaps on the derrière were in violation of Debra Lafave's house arrest, a judge determined Thursday.

Still, Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett ruled, the violation was neither willful nor substantial. Lafave, therefore, will continue house arrest under the current conditions. Had the violation been more serious, Lafave could have been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Lafave, 27, smiled brightly as she walked from the courthouse Thursday afternoon, her parents and lawyer by her side. John Fitzgibbons, her lawyer, said he would resume efforts to get her final year of house arrest commuted to probation.

Lafave, a former English teacher at Greco Middle School, was arrested June 21, 2004, after a 14-year-old student's mother called police to report that Lafave was having sex with her son.

By November 2005, in the midst of massive media coverage, the mother said she did not want her son to testify in court. She agreed to a plea deal in which Lafave would receive three years' house arrest and seven years' probation.

Conversations Were 'Innocent'

At Thursday's hearing, Lafave testified that her conversations with the 17-year-old girl were "innocent."

Asked by Assistant State Attorney Mike Sinacore if the conversations included physical contact such as handshakes and hugs, Lafave said yes.
Sinacore asked Lafave if she ever complimented the teenager on her looks.

"Not that I can recall," she responded with a laugh.

Fitzgibbons told the judge that the probation officer knew about his client's conversations with the teenager for more than a year.

In 2006, Lafave took a polygraph exam where she said there were two girls at work younger than18. She said she often discussed private matters with them, including a discussion with one teen who talked about losing her virginity. The probation officer did not file a violation against her, Fitzgibbons pointed out.

The probation officer, Michael Cotignola, testified that he visited the restaurant in 2006 but could not locate the two underage girls.

In 2007, Lafave again took a polygraph test where she revealed she had conversation with an underage co-worker that included talk about each other's sex lives and included jocular activity such as slapping each other on the buttocks, Cotignola testified.

In court today, Lafave admitted to "horseplay" and "girl talk." She denied having a flirtatious relationship with the teen. She said she considered her co-workers "brothers and sisters" and chalked up the contact to her "good nature."

"I got very casual," Lafave said.

A hearing on Dec. 18 was postponed until Thursday. Prosecutors then said they wanted the 17-year-old present in court so she could testify.

At Thursday's hearing, Sinacore said Lafave admitted to everything the teenager would have said. She was not, therefore, called to testify.

Pleased With The Outcome
Sinacore told the judge that Lafave knew she could not be around her former boyfriend's daughter because of her house arrest status and she knew she could not be around her victim. She had to know that sexual conversations with a 17-year-old also were a violation, he said.

Fitzgibbons questioned why conversations with teenage co-workers were not a problem in 2006 but constituted a violation the next year. He argued that Lafave made no attempts to hide the behavior, twice acknowledging it to her probation officer.

After Padgett's ruling, Fitzgibbons said he was pleased with the outcome.

"Everyone knows in a workplace there is conversation among employees, there is horseplay, there is girl talk," he said.

Since the arrest, Lafave has quit working at the restaurant and works as a receptionist at her mother's beauty shop.

The girl has since turned 18.

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

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