STATE

Probation ends for Debra Lafave in teacher in sex case

The Associated Press
Debra Lafave enters Judge Wayne Timmerman's courtroom with her parents, Joyce and Larry Beasley, for her probation hearing at Hilllsborough Circuit Court Annex in Tampa on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011. The judge decided to end the 31-year-old former teacher's probation four years early. She had served two years of house arrest and was scheduled to remain on probation until November 2015 for having sex with a 14-year-old student in a case that made tabloid headlines around the world. (St. Petersburg Times)

TAMPA — Middle-school teacher turned sex-offender Debra Lafave is off probation.

A judge in Tampa decided Thursday to end the 31-year-old former teacher’s probation four years early. She had served two years of house arrest and was scheduled to remain on probation until November 2015 for having sex with a 14-year-old student in a case that made tabloid headlines around the world.

Lafave pleaded guilty in 2005. Her attorney said she had a psychiatric condition that affected her judgment.

The judge’s ruling means she no longer must observe a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, and can travel anywhere outside the area.

Lafave is a new mother of twins and is living with her fiancée.

The victim is now 21. His sister said he is still getting psychiatric care.