Debra Lafave

Debra Lafave
2011 Florida DOC mugshot
Born	Debra Jean Beasley (1980-08-28) August 28, 1980 (age 36) Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	former teacher
Criminal charge	Lewd and lascivious battery
Criminal penalty	Three years house arrest, seven years probation (probation terminated September 22, 2011; reinstated by appellate court August 15, 2012; terminated after Florida Supreme Court ruling October 2014)
Criminal status	Free
Spouse(s)	Kristian Owen Lafave (divorced)

Debra Jean Beasley (born August 28, 1980), better known under her former married name of Debra Lafave, is an American who formerly taught at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery. The charges stemmed from a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old male student in the summer of 2004. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years house arrest due to safety concerns, and seven years of probation.

Lafave graduated from the University of South Florida, with a degree in English. After graduation, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2003, following her first year of teaching, she married Owen Lafave.

Lafave had sexual intercourse, including oral sex, with the student on four different occasions. In May 2004, the boy and Lafave went to see his cousin in Ocala. His aunt was alarmed at seeing him in the company of a provocatively-dressed woman, and alerted his mother. Under intense questioning from the boy's mother, he admitted that the woman was Lafave. Officers in Temple Terrace recorded conversations between Lafave and the boy, then arrested her at their next meeting. Two separate sets of charges were filed, because the alleged incidents occurred in both Riverview, in Hillsborough County, and Ocala, in Marion County. A trial date was set after the prosecution and defense could not agree on a plea bargain that involved prison time. Lafave faced a sentence of 5-to-15 years for each of the two counts for which she was accused.

Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, the boy's mother learned that Court TV was going to cover the first trial and would not agree to keep her son's identity private. The pretrial publicity was already taking a noticeable toll on him; he had a difficult time talking to an assistant prosecutor from Marion County. The victim's cousin also indicated that he was not willing to testify under the circumstances. Eventually, the boys' family decided that sending Lafave to prison would not be worth the emotional trauma of the proceedings, as well as the prospect of having to do it all over again two years later since there were going to be separate trials in Tampa and Ocala. They asked the prosecutors to offer Lafave a deal that would avoid a trial. The defense was willing to agree to a plea deal, provided that Lafave would not have to serve jail time. Lafave pleaded guilty under the agreement and was sentenced to three years of community control (house arrest) and seven years probation.