Debra LaFave is an American model and former teacher at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to statutory rape charges stemming from her having s-ex with a 14-year-old student in 2004, when LaFave was 23 years old.
Investigating officers pursued the case after being notified by the 14-year-old boy's mother. Officers tape-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 two different counties. A trial date was set after the defense would not agree on a plea bargain that involved prison time.
Shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin, the boy's mother learned that it was to be covered by Court TV and agreed to a plea bargain with no prison time. LaFave pleaded guilty under the agreement and was sentenced to three years of Community Control (house arrest) and seven years of probation, along with various other requirements. There was widespread skepticism as to whether a man guilty of statutory rape would have received similar treatment.
On December 8, 2005, the judge in the second county refused to accept plea-agreement terms that included no prison time and set a trial date for April 10, 2006. The prosecutor in that case later dropped the charges.
