"Girl talk" causes Debra Lafave's new arrest · 2007-12-05 11:35
A former Florida teacher who admitted having sex with a 14-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday on charges of violating probation by having unsupervised contact with a teenage female co-worker.
Debra Lafave pleased guilty to the sex charge in 2005 in a deal with prosecutors. She was sentenced to three years of house arrest followed by seven years of probation.
According to Reuters, ??ne of the terms of her sentence was that she not have unsupervised conduct with anyone under the age of 18.
According to a report from her probation officer, Lafave talked to a 17-year-old girl about sexual issues, boyfriends and family problems when they were working together at a restaurant in a retirement community near Tampa.
"She's like a nice person, so we got close to her??¦ she's just our friend," said Diana Ford, a waitress at Danny Boys' Restaurant, and friend of Lafave.
Ford and others say besides Lafave's probation which kept her away from kids who came in to eat, Debbie as she was known to regulars, was just one of the girls, Tampa Bays'10 reports.
"We joke around, goof around, talk about what we just served that person, or what that customer just said to us," Ford said.
"I would characterize this just as girl talk or guy talk among fellow employees that all of us do every day," said Lafave's attorney John Fitzgibbons.
In fact, Fitzgibbons classifies the workplace conversation an insignificant violation and plans to continue a push to have his client's third year of house arrest, reduced to just probation.
"Every report I have received is that Debbie has done incredibly well on her house arrest," Fitzgibbons said.
Lafave, 27, was released without bail Tuesday afternoon shortly after her arrest.
She now works at a hair salon.
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