Tampa middle school teacher Debra Beasley Lafave turned herself in to Marion County authorities Monday, as investigators there released details of her alleged sexual relations with a 14-year-old student.
The report, written by Marion County sheriff's detectives, includes interviews with the student and his 15-year-old cousin, who says he witnessed some of the encounters.
The 14-year-old told detectives he and Lafave, 23, engaged in oral sex or sexual intercourse at three locations: in her portable classroom at Greco Middle School in Tampa, at her Riverview apartment and in her sport-utility vehicle while his cousin drove around Ocala earlier this month.
The case came to light when the mother of the 15-year-old cousin and the cousin's neighbor grew suspicious and told the 14-year-old's mother. She confronted the boy and called Temple Terrace police, sparking the first investigation.
Temple Terrace police charged Lafave with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery involving the 14-year-old. Marion County officials charged her with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition.
The cornerstone of their investigation involves a statement from the student, who offered details such as the color of the teacher's capri pants, the design of her body tattoos and the layout of her apartment.
He said he and Lafave got to know each other on their way back from a middle school graduating class trip at SeaWorld Orlando last month. They sat next to each other and talked.
That week at school, she would invite him to her class during detention and ended up taking him to his basketball practices at a recreation center, to get his hair cut and to his house, the report said.
On the last day of school, Lafave attended a party thrown by another student. It was there that she gave the 14-year-old her cell phone number, the boy told detectives.
The week of June 14, she performed oral sex on him in her bedroom and during a drive to Ocala where the boy's cousin lives, according to investigative reports.
She had sex with him in her portable classroom at school and twice that week in her SUV while the boy's cousin drove them around, according to police documents. After one of the encounters, the two stopped at a Best Buy where she purchased an iPod music player for her husband. They also frequented a Smoothie King.
The teacher told the teen she was in a troubled marriage and aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed, the boy told detectives.
After the boy's mother contacted Temple Terrace officers, detectives had the boy call Lafave on June 18 while they listened to the conversation.
Two days later, at the direction of Temple Terrace detectives, the teen arranged to have Lafave pick him up at his house the next day.
When she showed up, authorities were waiting.
Lafave turned herself in to Marion County authorities with her Tampa lawyer, John Fitzgibbons, by her side. She did not speak to detectives, said sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Livoti.
Lafave posted bail of $2,500 and was released about 1 p.m.
"There is a presumption of innocence in this country for anyone charged with a crime. I would hope that anyone would give that consideration to Debbie at this stage of the case," Fitzgibbons said. "There will come a time that we will explain our position and what our defense is, but that day is not today."
