18 months ago
UPDATE: Investigators have released the audio recording of a phone call between Stephanie Ragusa and an alleged victim. Click on the link to the right to listen to it.
By: Mike DeesonTampa, Florida - Although Stephanie Ragusa smiled each time she was led of out jail, the 28-year-old teacher was worried about getting caught having sex with her student.
She was hesitant to talk about it when the victim called her. At the time, investigators were with the alleged victim, and taping the conversation.
Click here to read the transcript. (PDF)
"I get paranoid about it," Ragusa told the teen "People like to take you down. People like drama."
According to the police report, when Ragusa first hooked up with her alleged victim, she was in a wheel chair and he was her escort. The report says he pushed the wheel chair into an elevator at Davidsen Middle School. That's where Ragusa told the teenager, "I can see you're shy, and I can fix it." Police say later that day she took him to her apartment after school, where she performed oral sex and they had intercourse.
During the phone conversation, Ragusa admitted she knew what she had done was wrong.
On the phone Ragusa tells the teen it's illegal. When the alleged victim asks why, Ragusa says, "You're under 18 and I'm over 18, and I don't know, whatever."
In addition, there may be more victims. We've learned that police are investigating a rumor detailing four teenage males having sex with Ragusa.
She realized how potentially harmful this could be to her.
In the taped conversations she says "it would be all over the news and everything." When the teenager asks if she means it would be like what happened to Debra Lafave, another teacher who had sex with a student, Ragusa replies, "Yeah."
And just like the Debra Lafave case, investigators got the victim to describe details of Ragusa's body that he could only know if he saw her naked.
When the teen asks Ragusa what she remembers about it, she says "it was fun."
And it was "fun" that could and wipe the smile off Ragusa's face and put her in prison for years.
Officials also released numerous other documents related to the case. Click on the links below to read them. (PDF)
- Hillsborough County Sheriff's Incident Report
- Supplemental Investigation Report 1
- Supplemental Investigation Report 2
- Miscellaneous Documents
Officer fired, Chief suspended over kicking incident
