EXCLUSIVE: Bolleas visit Nick in jail

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

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As Nick Bollea talks to his sister, Brooke, Tuesday afternoon he sees Bay News 9's camera and sticks up his middle finger.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Nick Bollea's father, mother and sister visited him in jail Tuesday afternoon, where he is serving an eight-month jail term in connection with the accident that left his friend, John Graziano, hospitalized with severe brain damage.

Bay News 9 got exclusive video of the visit. The Bollea family didn't want to answer any questions as they walked into the jail visitation center.

But John's family released a statement Tuesday, calling the Bolleas "phonies" and "two-faced" following the release of taped jail conversations between Nick and his parents.

More Information

Last week, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office released a DVD of 26 hours of audio from Bollea's jail phone calls. Many of the recordings are between Bollea and his parents.

"These tapes clearly show what the Bolleas said in court was calculated to give the Court the impression that Nick deserved a break," said the Grazianos in a written statement.

The following jail house phone call between Nick and his dad, Hulk Hogan, was made public last week.

Hulk: "Well, I don't know what type of person John was. Or what he did to get himself in this situation. I know he was pretty aggressive and yelled at people and do stuff. And for some reason God laid some heavy s**t on that kid. I don't know what he was into."

Nick: "He was a negative person.

Hulk: "He was what?"

Nick: "He was a negative person. Will you work on that Real-Ality deal?"

Hulk: "Yep"

Nick: "Get that lined up so the minute I walk out...wherever I walk out of it's there...boom."

Hulk: "Can you do it while you're on probation?"

Nick: "Of course."

Hulk: "Do you want to do it with Pink Sneakers or someone else?"

Nick: "I want to do it where I'll make the most money."

Hulk: "Well, then you need to do it with me, Jason and Eric."

The Bolleas get three-hours a week to talk to their son over a closed circuit monitor.

Regarding that phone call, John's mother, Debbie, writes, "If Terry Bollea cared about John Graziano, he wouldn't be blaming his semi-conscious state and his life long battle to survive as bad karma."

"If Nick Bollea cared about John Graziano he wouldn't be describing him as a negative person. These people are the biggest phonies and two-faced individuals that I've ever seen."

"How can these people think of making money as my son lays in bed fighting for his life on a daily basis," writes John's father, Ed. "The reason he was put in jail was to think about my son. That's the last thought on his mind."

In another conversation, Nick's mother, Linda Bollea, talks about Debbie.

Linda decided to skip her jail house visit with her son after seeing Bay News 9's camera in the room.

Kevin Hayslett, Bollea's attorney, believes conversations released to the public between his client and his parents is unprecedented.

He said he wasn't aware of any previous cases where confidential communication between a parent and child post sentence have been released to the media.

He will, at some point, ask for clarification on whether or not the phone calls are a public record or confidential conversation between a parent and a juvenile.

The issue is whether or not there's an expectation of privacy between a juvenile and his/her parents for non-security related communications.

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