The Latest Round-Up of Scandals: 3 in One Month

The question on everyone’s mind is: “Why are all these female Tampa, Fla. teachers having sex with teenage male students?” Perhaps you need to be a teacher in Florida to answer the question accurately. The question on every 17 year-old boy’s mind has to be, of course, “can we please move to Tampa?”

The truth of the matter is likely that teachers who have sex with their much younger male students is a psychological issue involving power, a need for attention, mental instability and some other crossed wires upstairs.

Here are the details of cases that broke in the last month:



Lisa Marinelli, 40, substitute teacher at Mitchell High School, charged with having sex with a 16 year-old boy (who’s now 17). Investigators say Marinelli gave the boy a pair of her underwear, called him hundreds of times as well as sent text messages. The young man’s father called police when he saw him getting out of Marinelli’s car pulling up his pants. They reportedly had sex ten times in the months of January and February.




Stephanie Ragusa, 28, math teacher at Martinez Middle School (formerly of Davidson Middle School), charged with five counts of lewd and lascivious acts of battery. She allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy at Davidson where she taught at the time, but the boy wasn’t her student.




Mary Jo Spack, 45, teacher at Freedom High School (same county as Ragusa’s school), charted with giving alcohol to and having sex with a 17-year-old boy. Police reports say Spack met two boys, 17 and 18-years old, respectively, at a liquor store where she purchased booze and took them back to a Howard Johnson Express motel where others joined the party. Spack was allegedly heard having sex with a 17-year-old in the shower.