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Report: Ragusa cut herself, planned to blame jail guards

News Channel 8 file photo by KATE CALDWELL

Stephanie Ragusa, a 30-year-old former Hillsborough County teacher, was arrested last year and is being held on charges of molesting two boys.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 3, 2009

Updated: 08/03/2009 12:58 pm

TAMPA - The former teacher in the center of a notorious sex case apparently tried cutting herself behind bars so she could blame it on guards, an incident report obtained today by The Tampa Tribune states.

An Orient Road Jail staff member was told that inmate Stephanie Ragusa was "apparently inflicting wounds to herself, on her legs and arms" so she could blame jail deputies, the Dec. 14 report states.

In Ragusa's cell, Hillsborough County detention deputies found jail-made alcohol in a Milk of Magnesia bottle, ink mixed with grease in a medical cup, a staple readied for tattooing and an unknown substance in a Noxema container, the report states.

Ragusa, a 30-year-old former Hillsborough County teacher, was arrested last year and is being held on charges of molesting two boys.

Late last year, an inmate who wished to remain anonymous told a detention deputy that she overheard Ragusa say she would implicate deputies "in matters of supposed mistreatment" behind bars, the report states. After being told Ragusa was cutting herself and planning to blame deputies, jail personnel called the medical unit and spoke with a nurse.

"Due to this inmate's supposed self-infliction, a behavioral observation form was generated for a psychological evaluation," the report states.

According to the incident report, Ragusa was to be placed in administrative confinement, and a search of her cell led to discovery of the contraband, which was removed.

Before entering jail last year, Ragusa had tattoos of a lizard on the small of her back, a ladybug on the lower left side of her belly and a flower on her right side. Sheriff's office reports have said the photographs were used to corroborate statements given by a teenager who claimed to have had sex repeatedly with Ragusa.

In a second incident report, a corporal told Lt. Susan Ball there was "additional manipulative behavior" exhibited by Ragusa. "It should be noted that I spoke with inmate Ragusa and found her to be deceptive in her remarks and explanations for her behaviors both here and at the Falkenburg Road Jail," Ball wrote Feb. 21. "She was contradictive in her own statements and refused to accept responsibility for her behaviors."

While behind bars last year, Ragusa wrote a letter to Nick Bollea, the then-incarcerated teenage son of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. In the letter, which was addressed to "Nick Hogan," Ragusa wrote that while they don't know one another, she feels sympathy for him and thinks they have been dealing with a similar level of attention from the public and media.

"It's not us, Nick, but something 'off' with society, that our situations garner more attention + print than the President, the election, or even an earthquake killing thousands," Ragusa wrote. "Nothing prepares you for nor prevents it; sensationalism."

Ragusa was arrested in March 2008, accused of having sex with a 14-year-old boy. She was arrested again a month later after investigators identified another victim. Investigators say that two weeks after the second arrest, Ragusa drove her boyfriend's truck to the 16-year-old's house and had sex with him.

Ragusa's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment today.

She declined to comment, according to a jail official.

She remains without bail at Orient Road Jail.

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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