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School Stunned By Assault Arrests

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Students reacted with disbelief Friday morning at the news that three Dixie Hollins High School football players were arrested Thursday on charges that they molested or assisted in the molestation of a 15-year-old girl on a school bus.

"It's crazy that it happened and on a school bus," said Derek Wheeler, an 18-year-old senior at the school. "There's video cameras on a school bus. Everyone knows that."

On Thursday, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office investigators arrested Branden Allen, 18, and charged him with sexual battery and false imprisonment.

Two others - Jermeil Douse, 16, and Jacolbi Williams, 15 - were charged with being principals to sexual battery and false imprisonment.

Allen is accused of sexually assaulting the girl twice Tuesday evening as the Douse and Williams served as lookouts, reports said.

Allen, who plays wide receiver, safety and defensive back for the school's team, had his first appearance in a Pinellas County courtroom Friday.

Attorney Lucas Fleming asked the judge to reduce Allen's bail, but the judge kept it at $50,000 for the sexual battery charge and $5,000 for the false imprisonment charge.

Allen's mother, Trina Allen, said she thinks the situation is a misunderstanding - just horseplay that went too far.

"This is not him," she said. "If someone was doing this, he would actually stop him. He wouldn't bring or inflict pain or sadness on anybody."

The bus, which was on school grounds at 4940 62nd St. N., transports students who stay after school for extracurricular activities or sports.

Blake Smallwood, a 15-year-old freshman, was dumbfounded.

"I can't believe it," she said. "It's kind of hard to believe someone would do that on a school bus. It's a little out there."

Allen's jail affidavit states that the girl tried numerous times to stop him.

The bus driver was rounding up students who were running late.

When the school bus driver went to round up the students, Allen opened the door and went inside, the affidavits state.

The girl, whose name was not released, followed so she could get a seat for the ride home, detectives said.

Douse and Williams boarded next, and Allen asked them to act as lookouts, the arrest affidavits state. The girl then was molested, investigators said.

It ended when other students boarded the bus, according to the affidavits.

Curtis Fisher, 15, said he was one of those students. He knows the girl, he said, and she acted as though nothing happened.

The girl's parents contacted the sheriff's office the next day, sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said.

Tribune reporter Josh Poltilove and News Channel 8 reporter Krista Klaus contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at spthompson@tampmatrib.com or (727) 541-2336.

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