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Judge Allows Use Of Ragusa Recording At Trial

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By ELAINE M. SILVESTRINI

esilvestrini@tampatrib.com

Published: January 9, 2009

TAMPA - A judge on Thursday decided to allow prosecutors to use a taped conversation between a former teacher and a teenager she is accused of molesting.

Stephanie Ragusa, 29, is being held on charges she molested two boys. Investigators recorded a 17-minute phone conversation between her and one of the boys, who told deputies he was 14 when he had sex with his teacher.

In the conversation, Ragusa says she doesn't want to end up wearing an orange jumpsuit and that she knows the relationship is illegal. She also tries to define the legal term "statute of limitations."

Ragusa's attorney, Robert A. Herce, asked Judge J. Rogers Padgett to prevent prosecutors from using the recording as evidence at trial. Herce argued that the recording was not legal because law enforcement officers were not present.

Attorneys said investigators were present when the teen placed a call to Ragusa and left a message for her to call him back. The investigators waited for about an hour and then left after giving the equipment to the boy and his father with instructions on how to use it and what to say. They retrieved the recording the next morning.
Herce argued that Florida law, which once required such recordings to be made "under color of law," now requires that they be done "under the direction of law enforcement," which Herce argued means officers must be present. He said this was different from "at the direction" of law enforcement, which was the previous requirement.

Assistant Hillsborough County State Attorney Rita Peters said courts repeatedly have ruled that investigators are not required to be present for such recordings.

After listening to the detailed arguments, the judge dismissed Herce's motion.

"I fail to see the distinction between 'at the direction' or 'under the direction' or 'under the color of law,'" he said.
Herce later told reporters, "I have to respect the judge's ruling. I'm disappointed with it."
Ragusa first was arrested March 13 and accused of having sex with a 14-year-old. 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 first 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.

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