TAMPA, Fla. — A first-of-its-kind community in Tampa dedicated to providing for individuals wrongfully convicted of crimes a home after years in prison reached capacity this week, just months after it first opened.

  • The Sunny Center took in 4th exoneree this week
  • Center operates entirely on donations
  • Sponsors hope Center can expand quickly
  • More Hillsborough County stories

The Sunny Center's max capacity? Four.

Their fourth exoneree, Leslie Vass, spent 10 years in a Maryland prison for an armed robbery he did not commit.

“I was sentenced to 20 years," explained Vass. "Never been in trouble before."

He was just 17 years old when he was sentenced. It wouldn’t be until he was 27 that his name was cleared. 

Trying to re-acclimate to a normal life since his release has been a challenge. 

"It's hard, especially if you have no support, no kind of guidance, no means of actually trying to understand what you was dealing with," Vass said.

That’s where Dorothy Bort and the Sunny Center in Tampa came in. 

"He's finally in a community, because when he got out, they had nothing like this, nothing," said Bort. 

The Sunny Center is made up of four different units — each unit a home for these exonerees. 

All of them extremely grateful.

"They've always wanted to be apart of a community," Bort said. "They just never got the opportunity for the 20, 30 years that they were away.

The community, built entirely on donations and sponsors, hopes they can expand quickly in order to provide more exonerees a second chance at life.

“I feel good," Vass told us. "I feel like I’m brand new.”

To learn more about the Sunny Center, visit thesunnycenter.com.