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Former coach's records stay open, judge says

By CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published December 7, 2005

TAMPA - The cases were strikingly similar. In one, an attractive schoolteacher was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy at her school. In the other, another female teacher was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl on a high school basketball team.

But a Hillsborough judge said Tuesday that former Wharton High School girls basketball coach Jaymee Wallace is no Debra Lafave. Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman denied a request to block public access to court documents, telling her attorney that media attention to Wallace's case shouldn't bar their release:

"The publicity this far in the case - and things can change - does not even approach, doesn't come anywhere close to the Lafave case. At this point, I don't see any serious or imminent threat to your client getting a fair trial." Last week, Wallace's attorney, Joe Bodiford, filed a motion asking the judge to let him review material related to Wallace's case before its public release. Citing Timmerman's recent order to bar access to documents in the Lafave case, Bodiford said media hype around Wallace's alleged affair with the girl would make it hard on his client.

"This case is exactly the same as the Lafave case. That case had an incredible amount of press, an incredible amount of public outcry," Bodiford said. "I'm trying to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand."

Like Lafave, Wallace, 28, was charged with one count of lewd and lascivious battery after allegations about her relationship with a student drew authorities' attention.

Rumors about Wallace first surfaced in March, according to school district investigative records. The mother of an unidentified student told school officials about the affair, but the alleged student victim and her mother denied it.

The alleged victim's mother eventually contacted authorities at the end of the school year, and detectives began investigating, according to the district.

In November, the Hillsborough County School Board suspended Wallace without pay.

Staff writer Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler contributed to this report.

[Last modified December 7, 2005, 00:33:18]