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Leftovers Land County Jail Nurse Behind Bars

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 13, 2007

Updated: 12/13/2007 04:46 pm

She wrote him letters, accepted his many phone calls and even gave him money, officials said. But that's not what put a nurse who works at Falkenburg Road Jail behind bars earlier today.

Lisa Mendez

It was the leftovers Lisa Ann Mendez brought in her lunch bag for him that resulted in a felony, officials said.

On July 10, Mendez, a 35-year-old contract nurse with Armor Correctional Health Care Services Inc., began an "inappropriate relationship" with inmate James Lee Johnson, 37, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Johnson is a registered sex offender and has been in jail since April on two battery charges, state and jail records show. He was convicted in 1991 of lewd and lascivious molestation on a victim younger than 16.

James Lee Johnson

While incarcerated in Falkenburg, he performed trusty duties in the infirmary where Mendez worked.

"I don't think it was a romantic relationship as much as it was a relationship formed for being in the same confined space from day to day," Carter said.

Other inmates notified a supervisor about the relationship, the spokeswoman said.

During the course of several months, Mendez gave Johnson her cell phone number and detectives found that Johnson tried to contact or made contact with Mendez more than 500 times via her cell phone, Carter said.

Mendez deposited about $100 in Johnson's canteen fund and sent several letters to him at the jail, Carter said.

When questioned, the nurse told investigators that she often brought Johnson food along with her lunch, Carter said, noting that the nurse was aware she wasn't supposed to be doing this. Both were charged with a felony of introduction of contraband into a detention facility.

Mendez was released today after posting $2,000 bail. A spokeswoman for Armor Correctional Health Care Services said Mendez was fired immediately after her security clearance at the jail was revoked by the sheriff's office.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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