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In 2 Weeks, 3 Teachers Jailed In Student Sex Cases

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2008

Stephanie Ragusa

TAMPA - Three Tampa Bay area teachers in two weeks have been accused of having sex with students.

Experts on the subject do not think it is an epidemic but say the reporting of such crimes is on the rise.

The arrests of middle school math teacher Stephanie Ragusa and Freedom High School teacher Mary Jo Spack—charged seven days apart with sex-related crimes against minors—have prompted Hillsborough County School District officials to call emergency board meetings and question if stricter hiring practices should be in place.

Mary Jo Spack

A substitute teacher in Pasco County was arrested Monday and charged with unlawful sex with a minor.

Ragusa, 28, who most recently taught at Lutz's Martinez Middle School, was arrested on March 13. She is facing charges of having sex with a 14-year-old student several times from January to May 2007.

Spack, 45, was arrested Thursday and was accused by police of meeting two Freedom High students, ages 17 and 18, at a liquor store. Spack then took the students to a motel on Fowler Avenue where they drank alcohol together, police said. Other students arrived and heard Spack and the 17-year-old having sex in the shower, an arrest report said.

Lisa Robyn Marinelli

Substitute teacher Lisa Robyn Marinelli, 40, was arrested Monday by Pasco sheriff's deputies and charged with unlawful sex with a minor. The victim, a 17-year-old boy, told investigators that he had sex with Marinelli 10 times between Jan. 12 and Feb. 27.

Since 2005, at least 10 schoolteachers in Hillsborough and neighboring counties have been arrested on similar charges.

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