Caroline Corbett Jailed for Sex with Scout - Updated

(Key West, Florida) The case against 23-year-old Caroline Corbett progresses.

After almost a year of correspondence between Keys law enforcement officials and Corbett's attorneys, she was only recently forced to face charges in Monroe County - and she did not turn herself in.

Corbett recently spent six weeks in jail after being arrested March 27 at a Rhode Island airport when a Transportation Security Administration check revealed she had a warrant in the Keys for lewd and lascivious battery on a person between ages 12 and 16.

“This was not a ‘turn-herself-in' situation,” said Manny Madruga, the Keys assistant state attorney prosecuting the case. “She was arrested on the warrant.”

Madruga said the case has been frustrating since the Sheriff's Office issued her arrest warrant last fall, and she had only recently been sent to jail here.

The original warrant was issued Sept. 24. Police in Hingham arrested Corbett, but a Massachusetts judge let her go, saying the warrant presented insufficient evidence she was a fugitive.

“This was really unusual. Most states will honor probable-cause warrants from another state,” Madruga said.

But the warrant was not inactive just because she was released from jail in Massachusetts.

Madruga said he was in correspondence with her two attorneys - one a Massachusetts lawyer and one in Palm Beach - about getting Corbett to turn herself in. Her lawyers told Madruga she would turn herself in if the bond - originally set at $150,000 - was reduced.

“I said, ‘If she turns herself in, we'll talk about bond.' It's not good practice to negotiate bond with a fugitive,” Madruga said.

Bond was finally set at $75,000 by Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones. A court appearance is scheduled for July 2.

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Woman Arrested for Sex with Scout
[Previous 9/29/07 post]
(Key West, Florida) A 22-year-old woman, Caroline Corbett, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy last July.

Caroline Corbett was the first mate on a sailboat, the Heritage of Miami, that was used for a weeklong sleepover trip for 18 Boy Scouts.

While the boat was anchored off Key West, Corbett allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy from Georgia, police said.

Sex with the first mate! Aargh!

The boy's mother alerted authorities after seeing a letter Corbett wrote to the boy.

Corbett was arrested in Georgia and extradited to Florida. She faces charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child over 12 but under 16.

Tip: Don Morgenstern