(3/20/08 – Initial BBT Report)
Mary Jo Spack, 45, an Honors English teacher at Freedom High School in Tampa, Florida was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with having sex with and providing alcohol to her students.
Spack is charged with 1 Count of Unlawful Sex with a Minor and 2 Counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a minor.
It is alleged that Spack picked up two students, ages 17 and 18, took them to a liquor store and subsequently to a Howard Johnson Motel where they consumed alcohol together and Spack allegedly had sex with the 17-year-old in the shower.
It is alleged that three other students from Freedom High School were also in the motel room.
Spack has been placed on paid administrative leave until the school board meets in April.
Spack was arrested at the school on Thursday and was subsequently released from the Hillsborough County’s Orient Road Jail Thursday night on $8500 bond.
Spack came to the attention of authorities when school administrators contacted police as rumors of a 17-year-old boy bragging about having sex with Spack swept the school campus.
This is the second time in a week that a Hillsborough County teacher was arrested for having sex with a student. Stephanie Marie Ragusa was arrested and charged recently on allegations that she had sex with a student five times while working as a teacher at Davidsen Middle School.
References:
Freedom High Teacher Arrested For Sex With Student (3/21/08)
Second teacher arrest stuns students, parents (3/20/08)
Teacher Charged With Sex With Minor (3/20/08)
Freedom High teacher arrested for having sex with student (3/20/08)
Entries (RSS)
January 4th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
and if anyone is curious, the “victim” turned 18 on april 14, and this happened in the middle of march. what a shame…
January 4th, 2009 at 12:30 am
oh yea?…I heard about a case in orlando where the DA declined to prosecute a 23 yr old guy (AOC in fl is 16 if ur under 24) who had sex with a 15 yr old girl b/c she was pretty close to the age of consent. she then went on youtube and whined about it. I say she got what she deserved.
so this isn’t unheard of. We need more prosecutors who realize that this one glove fits all mentality doesn’t work.
crimes involving money, physical injury, drunkenness, slander, vandalism etc. are all measurable and verifiable. sex is such a gray area that the law is far too specific with. (Name Deleted by site moderator) was the man here, he should have stepped in and stopped this before anything happened.
This comment has been edited by site moderator in accordance with site policies as outlined in the “Comments” page.
Please Note: “Common sense”, this is the third or fourth time that I or one of the moderators have removed the name of a person allegedly the victim of a sex abuse crime from your comments in this thread. The fact that the person may be a “bad character” is not relevant to this site’s policy of NOT publishing the names of sex abuse victims, alleged or proven. This is most likely the final warning to cease the effort to get the name of the alleged victim published here. Any further attempt will likely result in your being banned from this site. – webmaster
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:21 am
Days away or weeks away, what difference does it make? Nobody is splitting hairs – there is a specific and definite line which distinguishes legal from illegal and this woman crossed that line. Where is the debate here? Do you get out of a DUI since you were only .01 above the limit? No. Are you excused from theft if you only steal a few dollars from a store? No. There is absolute clarity on this issue – there is no need to introduce “sort of” and “close enough.”
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:46 pm
a good teacher: this would actually still be illegal in the UK (and most states) since shes a teacher. though the AOC is 16 there (and 16 or 17 in most states), there is usually always an exception that raises AOC to 18 when someone has a position of authority over them.
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:40 pm
(Name Deleted by site moderator) was only DAYS away from his 18th birthday. DAYS!!!!! the cops are realllyy splitting hairs here. If I was the DA, I would drop the sex charge in exchange for guilty pleas on the 2 delinquency charges. I would then sentence her to 1 year probation on each. case closed, tax dollars NOT wasted.
This comment has been edited by site moderator in accordance with site policies as outlined in the “Comments” page. Please note: We NEVER knowingly publish the names of victims, alleged or proven, of sex crimes.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Reason – this isn’t the UK and the law is clear. She knew the law and she willfully broke the law.