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State Releases Audio Of Teacher-Student Conversation In Sex Case

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By THOMAS W.  KRAUSE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

TAMPA - She says she doesn't want to end up wearing an orange jumpsuit; she says she knows that the relationship is illegal; she tries to define the legal term "statute of limitations."

A 17-minute phone conversation between 29-year-old schoolteacher Stephanie Ragusa and a teenager she is charged with molesting now is available in audio form.

On Thursday, prosecutors released a transcript of Ragusa and the teen discussing their relationship. The boy's name was not released because of the nature of the charges.

TBO.com has muddled the voice of the teenager in the recorded call to prevent identification.

After Hillsborough County sheriff's investigators interviewed the teenager, who said he was 14 when he had sex with Ragusa, they asked him to record a conversation with her. Deputies left recording equipment with him.

The next day they reviewed the recording and Ragusa was arrested.

She faces three charges of lewd and lascivious battery.

The teen told investigators that he and the teacher had sex at least three times from January through May 2007.

She was arrested again April 15 after investigators found evidence that she had sex with another teenager as many as 20 times from Feb. 15, 2007, until three days before her arrest, they said.

That boy was 15 but turned 16 during their relationship.

Ragusa was arrested a third time on April 28 after investigators saw her leaving the second boy's home while she was free on bail, they said.

He told deputies they had just had sex again.

Ragusa is being held without bail at Falkenburg Road Jail.

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

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