Debra Jean Williams (née Beasley; born August 28, 1980), better known by her former married name of Debra Lafave, is an American sex offender and former teacher at Angelo L. Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. In 2005, she pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery against a teenager stemming from a sexual encounter with a male student referred to as "M.M." in police reports and "Jack" in her estranged then-husband's book Gorgeous Disaster: The Tragic Story of Debra LaFave, in the summer of 2004 when she was 23 and "M.M." was 14. Lafave's plea bargain included no prison time, opting for three years of house arrest due to safety concerns, seven years of probation, and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Lafave attended East Bay High School until 1996. From 1995 to 1996, Lafave dated Nick Carter. She also had a relationship with classmate Casie Diana Martinez; which allegedly also became sexual. As a result of that relationship, Lafave's parents withdrew her from East Bay and transferred her to Bloomingdale High School which she would graduate class of 1998. Around that time, she took a gig as a pin-up model for the magazine Makes & Models (M&M). Later on when news of the sex scandal made the headlines, her leaked modeling photos from that time period contributed to the sensationalism of the story.
She attended the University of South Florida and graduated with a degree in English. In the midst of her junior year in college, her then-five-months-pregnant 24-year-old older sister Angela "Angie" Beasley was killed in April 2001 by drunk driver Army Captain Joseph Piotrowski when he crashed his jeep into older-sister Beasley's 1998 Nissan. Piotrowski was convicted in August 2001 under court-martial and sentenced to 13 years in prison. He received a concurrent 30-year sentence in state court. In interviews, Lafave (who said she had a close relationship with her sister) would describe that event as having been particularly traumatic for her and said it led her to have several bouts of depressive moods.
After college graduation in 2002, she was hired as an English teacher at Greco Middle School in Temple Terrace, Florida. On July 19, 2003, following her first year of teaching, she married banker Owen Lafave.
Lafave, then 23, was charged with statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old male student, referred to in the press by the initials "M.M.", from the middle school she was teaching in. She engaged in oral sex as well as vaginal intercourse with "M.M." without using a condom on four different occasions between June 3rd to June 17th of 2004: Once in the bedroom of her Riverview town house condominium, once in her portable classroom, and multiple times in the back seat of her car, a 4x4 silver 2002 model Isuzu Rodeo Sport.
Despite having a reputation among classmates and teachers as being a mischievous, funny, and arrogant student who often pushed boundaries, in reality (known only to those close to him, like his cousin) "M.M." was still a virgin who had never been sexually intimate prior to his experience with Lafave. Although "M.M." was not Lafave's student, he knew of Lafave due to other students finding her attractive.
In April 2004, Lafave first became acquainted with "M.M." while watching tag football game a few of her students were participating in which "M.M." and his friend John Wood also happened to be fellow participants. Allegedly, that day "M.M." and John Wood took the initiative to approach Lafave and according to witnesses, Lafave loved the attention that "M.M." gave her. As Lafave continued visiting "M.M." and his friends at their games, she once bought them candy and invited them to regularly hang out in her portable. Lafave began dressing more provocatively such as wearing short skirts and low-cut or tight shirts. She also complained to her friends and colleagues of sexual dissatisfaction from her husband as well as issues with insecurity exacerbated by the pressures of her married life brought on by the lifestyle of being married to her husband Owen who worked as a banker at the time.
In May 2004, during the final week of school, when the graduating class (including "M.M.") took a trip to SeaWorld Orlando on grad night, which Lafave chaperoned, "M.M." and Lafave got a chance to become acquainted. They developed a close relationship even though Lafave's husband Owen was on the trip. That week, Lafave went out of her way to put "M.M." in detention to spend time with him in the detention room, even sometimes inviting his friends. Other times she asked "M.M." to stay after school to be with her. Around that time, the two allegedly first kissed. On one occasion that Lafave asked "M.M." (and his friends) to clean her portable classroom, "M.M." asked Lafave to flash her breast at him. Allegedly, Lafave only pulled up her shirt to reveal a tiny bit of the bottom of her bra, but when "M.M."'s friends left and Lafave was alone with the boy, "M.M." and Lafave allegedly kissed. On the last day of school, a student hosted a party inviting all other classmates including "M.M.". Lafave came with "M.M." to the party and was the only teacher present. When curiosity arose about Lafave's presence, "M.M." referred to Lafave as his "girlfriend". By the end of the party, after driving the other students home, Lafave gave "M.M." her number and allegedly was already discussing plans to have sex with him. During the start of the summer holidays leading up to the first sexual encounter, Lafave and "M.M." spoke via phone often and Lafave regularly drove him to summer activities and kissed him during those car rides. Around that time, Lafave opened up to "M.M." that she was thinking about him a lot and had feelings for him which "made her smile" and which she could not get rid of. Allegedly in the police reports, Lafave told "M.M." that she was having marital issues and therefore was "turned on by the fact that having sexual relations with him was not allowed".
At one point in the sexual relationship, Lafave gave "M.M." a pewter key pendant with a butterfly and the word "Hope." She told "M.M." that she had an identical pendant and wanted him to have one as a symbol of the bond of their relationship.
In one of their outings together (shortly after their penultimate sexual encounter) Lafave was captured on Best Buy's security camera near Paddock Mall wearing a light yellow halter sundress and platform sandals along with "M.M." together with his cousin (who took the role as their driver).
Toward what became the end of their sexual relationship, Lafave mentioned quitting her job at Greco to get a job at the high school "M.M." would soon transfer to, and even talked about getting married and going public about their relationship once "M.M." turned 18, but "M.M." by that point allegedly told Lafave that he needed a break.
Lafave's sexual relationship with "M.M." was exposed when the two visited "M.M."'s cousin in Ocala and had a final sexual encounter. His aunt saw the pair in a parking lot and was alarmed at seeing "M.M." in the company of a provocatively dressed woman which according to police reports, was a purple & pink capri pants with matching color halter top which tied to the neck. She asked her son ("M.M."'s cousin) about the situation; he told his mom that Lafave was the sister of a mutual friend of him and "M.M." from the University of Florida and that they were buying Father's Day presents. Unconvinced, the aunt alerted "M.M."'s mother. Under intense questioning from his mother, "M.M." admitted that the woman was Lafave.
Officers in Temple Terrace recorded conversations between Lafave and "M.M." to get a recorded verbal statement from Lafave confirming she had unprotected sex with "M.M.".
With the statement secured, the officers had "M.M." arrange a meeting with Lafave at his house on the pretense that his mom was out for the entire day, then arrested her when she arrived. When Lafave pulled up to the driveway, police surrounded her vehicle and arrested her. According to M.M.'s mother who recounted the arrest, Lafave was wearing a pink tank top, shorts, and no makeup at the time of arrest and surprised M.M.'s mother by how young Lafave was considering she was expecting a stereotypical teacher in her 40s.