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Steve Myers
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Teacher Accused of Sleeping With Student Not Anomaly
COURTESY OF FOX NEWS
NEW YORK If Debra Lafave is convicted of sexual misconduct and lewd exhibition, the middle school teacher will be part of a frightening trend: A report to Congress Wednesday found that one in every 10 school-age kids endures sexual misconduct by a teacher or other school employee.
Lafave is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student at least five times at her home, at school and in the back of her SUV.
The student identified butterfly and Chinese letter tattoos on Lafave's body for investigators.
The 23-year-old reading specialist at Greco Middle School near Ocala, Fla., turned herself into authorities Monday, accompanied by her attorney.
But Lafave has been in the limelight before, posing for provocative photographs in May 1999 for the Florida-based magazine Makes & Models.
Lafave is not alone, according to the study, "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature June 2004," prepared for the U.S. Department of Education (search) by Charol Shakeshaft of Hofstra University and Interactive, Inc. Huntington, N.Y.
The study found that more than 4.5 million children suffer misconduct ranging from inappropriate comments to physical abuse, naming teachers as the worst offenders at 18 percent.
The most famous name in teacher-student sex abuse remains Mary Kay Letourneau, the 36-year-old teacher from Washington State whose affair with a 13-year-old student sent her to prison, leaving three children from her marriage and two more with the student, behind.
Lafave is free on bail and if convicted, she could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on each of the five charges she's facing |
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Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:16 am |
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