Free Republic

It was a bizarre and emotional courtroom scene, but one occurring with disturbing frequency these days. A popular middle school teacher, 43-year-old Pamela Diehl-Moore, had tearfully pleaded guilty to having sex with a child – a 13-year-old male student who had just completed 7th grade – and now stood before a Hackensack, N.J., judge awaiting sentencing. And what would that sentence be? Considering all the intense media coverage of male sexual predators victimizing female children, one might expect a stiff prison term, accompanied by a withering rebuke. But when New Jersey Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Gaeta opened his...

TAMPA - Everybody knows about Debra Lafave. They know about her alleged trysts with a 14-year-old student. They even know what she was wearing that day in the portable classroom. But few know about the graphic photos police took of the former Greco Middle School teacher. On Tuesday, Lafave's attorney filed a motion to block public access to six photos taken of her last year, saying officers violated Lafave's constitutional right to privacy when they shot close-ups of her genitals. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne S. Timmerman is scheduled to hear the motion next week. "We don't believe that the search...