Well Mark, not quite as subtle as my approach to this subject, but for some reason even your reply has not stopped the comments & replies of condonation in favour of this sex offender! So I now post this for all to read.

I was not fully informed of all the facts regarding this case prior to first reading the topic, but having now researched quite a few news articles about it, I now know exactly what I knew when I posted my first reply, in that I was fully justified in what I said. The basis of this tragic and equally disgusting story according to most news articles is that in 2004 Debra Lafave was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy both at the Greco Middle Schools in Temple Terrace, where she taught reading, and also in a car driven by the student's cousin in Ocala. The teenage victim told investigators that he and Lafave got to know each other during a class trip in May, and their sexual relationship began June 3. Sometime prior to the trial, her attorney told the judge that to give the court a true sense of the case, that in the near future he anticipated and planned to file a notice of insanity plea as a defense strategy for Lafave, and that there was some work being done by a doctor. Allegedly Lafave has some profound emotional issues that are not her fault. And her attorney also said that he thought once anyone reads what the doctors have to say, they will understand a lot more about what happened. One factor that her defense were considering was to invoke an insanity plea because of the recent trauma Lafave's family had been through at that time. Her pregnant sister was killed in a drunken driving accident three years before she committed these offences, and that Lafave was in court for the driver's trial alongside the rest of her family. And apparently, Lafave also blamed her prior mistakes of sex offending to bipolar disorder, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings, along with hypersexuality and poor judgment during manic episodes. The trial was originally scheduled for December 6th 2004, but a delay was requested by her attorney. Prosecutors said at the time that the new defense tactic could push the trial back quite a few months. Lafave was released on bail and was suspended without pay from the school where she worked. If convicted, she could have faced up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of the FIVE charges against her. Lafave was also facing possible similar charges in Marion County in connection with the alleged incident in the car in Ocala. At her trial she dropped the insanity ploy and pleaded guilty to two charges of lewd and lascivious battery in November 2004, and she got off quite lightly with a sentence of three years of house arrest and a seven year probation order, the conditions of which she has subsequently broken.
Lafave is at present working as a receptionist in her mothers barbershop in Ruskin, where she now lives, and is also attending a sex-offender treatment programme and is said to be making steady progress. She could face up to 15 years in prison for her probation violation.

WELL THAT'S THE FACTS OF THE CASE AS FAR AS I AM AWARE. (Please notify me if you're reading this and know of any mistakes).

As for the people who have posted comments that condone this peadophile and her sexual criminal offences, or those who choose to make excuses for her behaviour because you may think she has some traumatic baggage from her past, please bear in mind these few things. Victims of sexual abuse are not forced to disclose what has happened to them, and I'm quite sure that they would find it to be as equally traumatic in disclosure as the actual abuse itself. Given the fact that the insanity plea was dropped, it must have seemed a complete waste of time by her defence that she would be acquitted if they pursued it. But then we all know how 'fucked up' the U.S. law is regarding plea bargains etc. Could someone answer this for me, does everyone who has had a close family member killed by a drunk-driver, or even in some other more sadistic manner, go out and sexually abuse children, I don't think so. It is purely and simply the choice of an adult to do that. As the 14 year old victim will rightly so never be named, we therefore do not know how this experience has affected him, and I would ask you to question your own distorted thinking if you can only assume that he wanted this to happen to him, and that he is not damaged in anyway.
But don't take my word for it, read these facts:-

http://www.emaxhealth.com/22/18724.html

Children and teens are effected mentally and physically by sexual, emotional and physical abuse.
While the case of Debra Lafave this time is about a probation violation, what about the mental and physical effects of child and teenage sexual abuse?
Sexual abuse affects at least one of every 10 families in the United States. In Missouri, more than 2,100 cases are reported each year, but it is estimated that nine in 10 cases are never reported.
Any sexual contact between an adult and an unconsenting person is considered abuse and any sexual contact between an adult and a minor, regardless of consent, is abuse. Sexual abuse also includes indecent exposure, pornography, obscene phone calls, or exposure to sexual acts.
Like rape, sexual abuse is a form of violence. It effects span generations with many victims of childhood sexual abuse experiencing emotional problems years later as adults.
Some of the physical effects of sexual abuse are immediately apparent and can include bruises, cuts, burns, injury to genitals, damage to reproductive and other internal organs, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.
The psychological effects of sexual abuse may appear immediately, but often are delayed. Sexual abuse can destroy trust and warp the victim's perception of a normal, loving relationship. Victims frequently feel they are at fault for the abuse and have low self-esteem. These feelings can lead to depression, eating and sleeping disorders, and suicide attempts.
Victims may fall into a pattern of searching out marital and sexual partners who abuse them. They may find it difficult to form meaningful and lasting relationships with members of the opposite sex or to have normal sexual relations. They may use sex to gain attention or affection and may see themselves worthy only as sex objects.
Victims also resort to defense mechanisms to blot the incidents from their mind. These repressed feelings of anger and guilt may lead to physical and psychological problems. Physically, repressed feelings may cause ulcers, colitis, and migraine headaches, for example.
Psychologically, repressed memories of abuse may resurface as symptoms of other mental illnesses. Unless a history of abuse is revealed, a victim may be treated for a mental illness while the real cause of the symptoms goes untreated.

Lol, sorry Mick. Look, have changed it to your correct nickname. Indeed I agree with your latest post too. So much of what you say is so damn true.