[5][6][7] After college graduation in 2002, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida.

[5] Lafave committed statutory rape on a student on four occasions:[8] once in her house, once in her classroom, and multiple times in her car.

His aunt (the accompanying cousin’s mother) who was living in Ocala at the time happened to have spotted the student & Lafave in a parking lot and was alarmed at seeing him in the company of a provocatively dressed woman.

[12][15] There was widespread skepticism as to whether a man guilty of lewd or lascivious battery would have received equally mild punishment.

[12][16] On December 8, 2005, Marion County Circuit Judge Hale Stancil rejected the plea deal, claiming that any agreement that did not require Lafave to serve some prison time "would undermine the credibility of this court, and the criminal justice system as a whole, and would erode public confidence in our schools."

[17] In a statement, the prosecutors cited an assessment by psychologist Martin Lazoritz that found the victim would be so severely traumatized by a potential trial that it would take as long as eight years for him to recover.

Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian asserted that Lafave avoided jail time due to a faulty belief among Americans that she was "too pretty for prison".

[18] Ariel Levy, writing in New York, called Fitzgibbons's statement "notorious",[19] and Lafave's ex-husband criticized it.

John Gillespie, the lead detective who requested the nude photos of Lafave, was arrested before the trial in an unrelated prostitution sting.

[27] Lafave later attributed her criminal actions to bipolar disorder, which is associated with intense and irregular mood swings, and with hypersexuality and poor judgement during manic episodes.

[34] On January 24, 2013, Lafave was ordered to continue her probation while the Florida Supreme Court waited to hear the case.