Tampa, Fla. – A teacher who admitted having sex with a middle school student violated her probation by talking with a 17-year-old co-worker about sex but will face no additional penalties, a judge ruled Thursday.

Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett found Debra Lafave violated her probation by having the conversations, but he said her transgressions were “neither willful or substantial.”

According to a Department of Corrections report, Lafave discussed her personal life and other subjects with a teenage waitress at a restaurant where they have both worked for the past two years. One of the terms of her probation had been that she was not allowed to have unsupervised contact with any minors without permission.

Lafave is serving three years house arrest and seven years probation after pleading guilty to having sex with the 14-year-old boy in a classroom and her home in June 2004. Her case became tabloid and media fodder because she had recently been married and had posed in skimpy outfits in modeling photo shoots.

Lafave and her attorney argued that the conversations were made in a group setting and that she never made any effort to contact the girl outside of work.

The department will continue to monitor Lafave, Padgett ruled.

Lafave testified Thursday that the conversations were candid, but she said that was because the restaurant was so small.

“We all acted like brothers and sisters,” she said.

The teenage worker, who is now 18, was not called to testify during the hearing.

Lafave smiled and gave pumped her fist after hearing the judge’s ruling. She left the courthouse with her parents and was shaking while briefly talking with reporters.

Prosecutors had no reaction immediately following the hearing, and a spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Sinacore argued that Lafave knew she was violating the terms of her supervision by talking with the girl. He said Lafave had been warned about speaking to her nearly a year before probation officials ordered her re-arrested.

Sinacore said that was troubling.

“It shows they gave her every possible change to avoid this,” he said. “They warned her. But she persisted.”

Lafave’s attorney, John Fitzgibbons, said authorities were targeting his client because she was within days of completing two years of supervised release.

Padgett ruled after hearing arguments from both sides, saying that Lafave had violated the terms of her plea agreement, but the offense was not serious enough to warrant jail time.