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Teacher Was Hired Despite Arrests

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Stephanie Marie Ragusa faced a judge this morning.

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By MIKE WELLS and THOMAS W. KRAUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 15, 2008

TAMPA - On her application to become a schoolteacher, Stephanie Marie Ragusa said she had never been charged with a crime more serious than a minor traffic violation.

That was not true.

The Hillsborough County School District found out it wasn't, but gave her a second chance anyway by hiring her at a middle school.

Ragusa, 28, was charged Thursday night with having sex with a 14-year-old student. Hillsborough sheriff's investigators monitored a phone call between the Davidsen Middle School student and Ragusa in which she acknowledged having sex with boy, the sheriff's office said.

A school board member now suggests that any hiring procedure allowing a second chance should be reviewed.

On a job application filled out in July 2006, Ragusa declared she had never been arrested or charged with anything other than a minor traffic infraction. Records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, however, show Ragusa had been arrested before.

Tampa police arrested her at 2:30 a.m. July 15, 2005, in Ybor City on suspicion of driving under the influence, jail records show. She refused to take a breath-alcohol test. The charge was dismissed at trial, according to court records.

Ragusa was arrested in Pasco County on Oct. 21, 2004, on a charge of aggravated battery, but the charge was dropped, FDLE records show.

Hillsborough court records also show that on May 1, 2001, Ragusa was charged with first-degree petty theft, a misdemeanor. After she completed a pretrial intervention program in 2003 with the Salvation Army, prosecutors dismissed the charge.

When school administrators uncovered her arrest record through a routine fingerprint check with FDLE and the FBI, Ragusa was called in for a meeting with the school district's office of professional standards, district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.

Ragusa then acknowledged being arrested previously. But because the charges had been dropped or dismissed, she was allowed to continue her employment, Cobbe said.

"If they come in to admit it and meet with Professional Standards, they give them a second chance," Cobbe said. "This is nothing new. I've seen this happen before."

Prospective employees sometimes indicate on the application they have never been arrested when indeed they have been, said Linda Kipley, the district's general manager for professional standards.

"It's not unusual for people that are looking at our application for the first time and list what the criminal court had told them - their charges have disappeared, dropped - so they answer the question based on that information," Kipley said.

Employees usually say they didn't realize they had to disclose arrests - not just charges, Kipley said.

Because there were no arrests involving sex, drugs or violence, Kipley said, she cleared Ragusa.

Failing to disclose information is not a reason to bypass a candidate, Kipley said.

"We're open-minded when people fail to disclose," she said. "We do terminate people for failure to disclose when the charges are something we would not have cleared."

School Board Member Candy Olson said failing to disclose information "may be something we may need to look at."

"If they're willing to lie on the application, I'm not sure I'd want to hire them," Olson said Friday. "This is almost like an intelligence test. ...Are you smart enough not to lie?"

Ragusa said on her job application that she had been a freelance sports writer for The Tampa Tribune for five months in 2003. The newspaper's archives show one story by her was published in September 2003.

She listed sports reporter Anwar S. Richardson as a reference - without asking his permission, he said.

"The thing is, I probably would have said yes," he said.

Richardson said he considered Ragusa a good friend for about five years.

"We talked, hung out and had a good friendship," he said. "She covered boxing then and through that circle we became friendly."

They last spoke months ago when she talked about having troubles at her teaching job and said she was considering going back to school, he said.

Teacher Was Reprimanded Previously

The teacher's problems, and more second chances, didn't end with her arrest record.

Her personnel file contains two letters of reprimand, Cobbe said.

The first concerned a September 2006 incident at South Tampa's Madison Middle School.

Ragusa reportedly physically restrained a student who threatened to leave the room. Cobbe said she grabbed the girl's arm, and that action was inappropriate. Authorities were called and the principal contacted a child-abuse hot line, the letter said. No criminal charges resulted.

Ragusa was criticized for "poor decision making" and was ordered by the district to seek anger-management and professionalism training.

The second regarded a December 2007 incident at Lutz's Martinez Middle School. Ragusa was reprimanded for using profanity in her classroom. Administrators also said talking to students about her personal life "was not professional or acceptable." The letter warned that more incidents would result in a recommendation she be fired.

Ragusa started working for the school district in 2006 at Madison, district officials said, and voluntarily transferred midyear to Davidsen Middle School in Westchase.

Most recently, Ragusa has been working at Martinez Middle. The school's Web site lists her as a seventh-grade math teacher.

Teen's Friend Told School Employee

Ragusa has been placed on paid leave. On Tuesday, the superintendent will recommend the school board suspend her without pay, Cobbe said.

The investigation was sparked by a female friend of the teenager who told a school staff member March 7 that Ragusa was having sex with the boy, school district spokesman Steve Hegarty said.

On Wednesday, a deputy assigned to the school at 10501 Montague St. questioned the teen.

The victim told investigators about an incident on March 4, 2007, in which he saw two tattoos on Ragusa that usually were covered by her clothing, the sheriff's office said.

The boy, now 15, is not being identified by authorities because he is considered a victim of a sex crime.

Late Thursday afternoon, deputies arrested Ragusa at her Lake Bella Vista Drive home in Tampa and charged her with five counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

A judge Friday morning determined Ragusa should be held without bail for now, and set another bail hearing for Wednesday.

She is accused of having sex at least three times with the teen from January to May 2007, the sheriff's office said. One of the encounters took place while the teen should have been in an after-school class, and others occurred in Ragusa's Lexus and her former apartment in the Hunter's Run complex, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Sheriff's investigators are looking into Ragusa's relationships with other students.

"We are looking for additional victims," Carter said.

News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos and Tribune reporters Marilyn Brown, Elaine Silvestrini and Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com. Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached a

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