Husband Talks about Teacher Sex Scandal
By WFLA's Samara Sodos
TAMPA, FL -- The husband of a Tampa teacher accused of having sex with a student files for divorce.
Owen Lafave filed for divorce Thursday morning.
His wife Debra, a middle school teacher, is charged with having sex numerous times with a 14-year-old student, including in a classroom, her apartment and once in a vehicle while his 15-year-old cousin drove.
Owen Lafave says Debra moved her stuff out of their apartment this week, leaving him without a bed to sleep on. When asked if he still loves his wife he said, "Sure I do. I do love her, but I'm hurt and devastated over the situation and the path our life has taken over the past two months."
But when asked if he thinks she is guilty, he refused to answer.
Even after all that's happened, Owen still protects his wife, by refusing to disclose what she told him. "In order for me to live with myself, this is something that I feel is necessary for me to do."
Lafave is a reading teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, a few miles north of Tampa. She was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition.
Authorities say Lafave, who has been married less than a year, had sex with the student in the back of her sport utility vehicle while the student's 15-year-old cousin drove them around the Ocala area.
Marion County detectives said the boy and his cousin provided matching statements incriminating the teacher and that the 14-year-old was able to identify tattoos and birthmarks on Lafave's body and the layout of her apartment.
The teen told investigators that he and Lafave got to know each other on their way back from a middle school graduating class trip to SeaWorld Orlando last month.
He said that 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.
Lafave gave the boy her cell phone number on the last day of school, the boy told detectives. The sexual relationship allegedly began on June 3.
The boy told detectives that Lafave told him that her marriage was in trouble and that she was aroused by the fact that having sex with him was not allowed.
Created: 8/26/2004 6:24:44 PM
Updated: 8/26/2004 6:42:22 PM