You know, just when you think the entire Debra Lafave story has nothing left to offer, a former Backstreet Boy steps up and reveals that she was his first sexual experience:

Nick Carter has revealed he lost his virginity to Debra Lafave, the Florida schoolteacher who shocked America by having sex with a 13-year-old pupil.

The former Backstreet Boy told shock jock Howard Stern he dated LaFave for 18 months when they were classmates, but ditched her after learning “she had cheated on me with a girl.” He kept quiet during the scandal, which thrust Lafave to notoriety, because his management team were worried about the controversy.

The singer says, “My publicist is like, ‘Stay as far away from that [bleep] as you can.’

At this point I’m not even sure I can feign surprise. Actually I think the most surprising part is Carter’s reason for breaking up with Lafave. Who breaks up with their girlfriend, in high school no less, for sleeping with another girl?

Debra Lafave, under house arrest, was granted a temporary leave to do a national interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer:

Debra Lafave, the teacher turned seducer of a 14-year-old boy, got a break from her home confinement to sit down Tuesday with NBC’s Matt Lauer for an interview that will air on national TV.

Her probation officer didn’t agree to it. A judge and prosecutors did.

[...]

“Debbie really wanted to explain her bipolar illness in hopes that it might be beneficial to people when they hear about it,�? her attorney John Fitzgibbons said.

Court records show prosecutor Michael Sinacore didn’t object because 25-year-old Lafave was not compensated, a condition of her three-year community control.

I don’t personally really see the problem with this since she won’t be compensated. I’m sure many people don’t give her bipolar defense much credence, but if she is actually bipolar then it’d definitely explain her actions.

Whether you have a problem with what Lafave did or not, I think it’s pretty clear that the judge screwed up royally here by not doing what prosecutors asked. Not surprisingly, he thinks he did the right thing:

But the judge said he has no regrets about rejecting Debra Lafave’s plea deal.

“Based on the evidence, I had no choice. I made the only decision I could,” he said.

Judge Stancil said he initially did not know which way he was going to rule. But as he began writing and laying out the facts, it became clear to him.

“In this case, I did not get enough information to do what the state requested me to do. I did not feel comfortable with doing it,” he continued.

It’s why, he said, he wrote a six-page decision asking for more evidence. Among his concerns:

# No one ever wants to testify, especially in sex-crime cases.
# Only one doctor talked about the traumatic effects of testifying, and after meeting with the victim for only 90 minutes. Stancil felt more psychological evidence should have been produced.
# Why didn’t the victim, his mother, or their lawyers speak out? They could have met privately with Stancil in chambers.
# The plea in Hillsborough County ran concurrently with Marion County’s deal.

But:

Action News found similar cases where pleas were comparable to Lafave’s deal, and the victim’s mother has criticized the judge for ignoring the family’s desires.

It’s tough for me to think that this judge wanted anything but the publicity a full blown trial would have brought.

If my wife cheated on me with a 14 year old I’d be a little embarassed. I certainly wouldn’t be seeking out the spotlight. But I’m not Owen Lafave.

After School is a documentary currently in production that focuses on “A study of the growing and disturbing trend of teachers having sex with their students.”

The oddest thing about the project might not be Lafave’s involvement, it might actually be Jonathan Lipnicki’s involvement. You might remember him as the kid from Jerry Maguire.

Odd career choice.

He’s a little older now, but it’ll still be weird to see the “human head weighs eight pounds” kid in a teacher – student sex documentary.

From the film’s synopsis:

For some teachers, “sex education� has become part of their extracurricular activities. During the past five years, approximately 50 female teachers have been accused of having sexual relations with underage boys.

[...]

Debra Lafave, the beautiful 23 year old reading teacher from Tampa, Florida, made international headlines when she was arrested in June of 2004 for allegedly having sex on numerous occasions with her 14 year old student. Her trial is set for December of 2005.

Her husband Owen feels his ex-wife is a sexual predator. He has spoken out in the media as an advocate for children. Although personally hurt and embarrassed by his wife’s behavior, he believes that if his actions prevent only one more child from being hurt, then he has accomplished something good from this sad and traumatic experience. After School studies the growing and disturbing trend of teachers having sexual relations with their students. The film will explore the minds and personalities of the female teachers who have committed these crimes and will examine the effect and impact on the students, families, and school districts.

Hott for Teacher will definitely be closely following this documentary.

This woman’s done a lot of talking, and you kind of have to wonder when she’s going to quit giving interviews:

Victim’s Mother:
“I’m his mom and I couldn’t protect him when it came time to what she did to him, I can protect him now.â€?

She doesn’t want to be identified because she’s still trying to protect her son, but the mother of a teenage boy who had sex with former teacher Debra LaFave agreed to talk about the case.

If she really wants to move on, then do it! There was no need to give an exclusive interview to Tampa Bay’s Channel 10. I’d be willing to bet any amount of money that this woman and her family will end up writing a book. Just about everyone in the Lafave case has come out looking pretty damn dirty.

She’s right, he should have accepted the plea offer:

She said she’s appalled that Judge Hale Stancil never met or even talked to her son before rejecting the second plea deal in Marion County on Tuesday.

She said she believes the judge allowed outside politics to influence his decision, and she also said that prosecutors did the very difficult, but correct thing, in deciding to drop the charges in Marion County.

From ABC News:

When Debra Lafave, the former Tampa, Fla., teacher accused of having sex with her 14-year-old student, learned that state prosecutors had dropped charges against her, she called her ordeal “a bump in the road.”

“I’m a strong Christian woman and I believe God has a path for me and this was just a bump in the road,” she said.

While quite hilarious, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing Lafave could have said. But then again, I don’t think anyone’s ever accused Lafave of being a smart cookie.

John Fitzgibbons, Lafave’s lawyer, acknowledged that Lafave referring to having sex with her student as a “bump in the road” could offend people, but said she was also referring to her struggle with bipolar disorder.

“Well, yes, but on the other hand she suffers from a serious mental illness and there were six psychiatrists who were prepared to testify had we gone to trial that she is indeed mentally ill,” he told “Good Morning America.” “She is being treated now and is a different person than she was a couple of years ago and she recognizes how serious that situation was.”

How long until the book gets written? Or the Playboy spread appears? Three months? Six?

From NBC6:

A Florida woman whose teenage son had sex with his high school teacher spoke out on Wednesday after the charges against the teacher were dropped.

[...]

Lafave blamed bipolar disorder for her sexual encounters with the boy, who was then 14.

The teen’s mother told WTVT in Tampa that she does not see that as an excuse.

“Do I believe she has bipolar? Absolutely. Am I glad she’s getting treatment for it? Yes. But is that an excuse to say, ‘I had no idea what I was doing on five different occasions,’ when she molested my child, that’s a stretch,” the teen’s mother told WTVT.