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Cellmates Share Bollea's Age, But Their Crimes Are Different

By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

Updated: 06/06/2008 02:53 pm

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Christopher A. Johnson

Santiago Langston

Deshawn Jamarius Smith

CLEARWATER- After complaining about being stuck in an isolated cell, Nick Bollea has company: three cellmates who, like Bollea, are 17 years old, but who, unlike him, come from impoverished backgrounds.

Bollea was moved from his cell at the Pinellas County Jail on Thursday afternoon after his attorneys complained that confining him alone amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Bollea complained about his solitary status to his parents virtually from the moment he was taken to the jail.

In May, Bollea was sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading no contest to a charge of reckless driving involving serious bodily injury. On Aug. 26, he wrecked his car, leaving his sole passenger, Iraq war veteran John Graziano, with brain damage.

One of his cellmates, Jamarius Smith, is serving a 90-day sentence after being charged with sale and possession of cocaine. The Dunedin teen, whose last year of school was the 10th grade, didn't have enough money for a lawyer, so he was granted a public defender, court records show.

Santiago Langston of St. Petersburg is serving a 120-day sentence after he was charged with fleeing and eluding a police officer in St. Petersburg. A 10th-grade drop-out, he also was granted a public defender. His criminal history also includes a charge of possession of cocaine.

Christopher Johnson is serving a 364-day sentence for snatching a purse from a woman at a WalMart in St. Petersburg, his jail records show. He was placed on furlough after graduating from Project New Attitudes, a rehabilitation program, but he didn't follow up on the outside as he was supposed to, so a judge put him back behind bars, court records show.

When he was free and staying with his mother, the ninth-grade dropout failed a half dozen times to observe the required curfew, often showing up at 1 a.m., court records show. His criminal background includes a charge of grand theft auto, and he also had a public defender working on his case, court records show.

The three teens, along with Bollea, share a cell that has six beds. During the day, the cell opens up to a common area where the four are interacting with roughly 10 other juvenile inmates, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

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