Nigel Lewis goes to jail
T&T Guardian.
Above: The Paul Rein Detention Facility in Florida, where Nigel Lewis is detained. Inset: A prison mug shot taken of Nigel Lewis in Florida on February 1.
While JW and Blaze are running away with the 2010 Road March title with Palance, a former Road March winner is languishing in a Florida prison, awaiting trial on two sex-related charges. Although Nigel Hayden Lewis, 43, was granted bail in the sum of US$150,000 to cover both charges, he is still detained at the Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Although the details of the case are sketchy, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida confirmed that the alleged offences occurred before the February 1 arrest of the calypsonian in Miramar, where he lives. They accused Lewis of “lewd or lascivious (feeling or revealing an overt or offensive sexual desire) behaviour.” The sheriff’s office contend that the two victims in the case were between 12 and 16 years old, while the “offender” was more than 18 years old. No date has been set for Lewis’ next appearance before a Broward County magistrate.
Lewis has been living in Florida for some time, but sheriff officials could not say if the former Road March champion was staying legally in the US. Lewis and his brother Marvin took T&T by storm in 1996 with their bumper song Movin’, otherwise known as Moving to the Left. Nigel Lewis became a household name from his Road March success. He went further with a follow-up tune—Follow the Leader.
His musical journey begins in Tobago. His parents, a dancer and jazz musician, respectively, definitely influenced his career path. Lewis developed into a remarkable singer/songwriter/musician in many ways. He taught himself to play six instruments without formal classroom training, and his clairvoyant lyrics have confronted universal issues, such as poverty, world peace and voting rights.
WHERE LEWIS IS BEIN DETAINED
The Paul Rein detention facility was opened in February 2004 at a cost US$36.6 million. It was named after a deputy sheriff who was shot and killed in the line of duty on November 7, 2007. The facility is designed to handle 1,020 inmates in two four-storey towers. More than 200 deputies supervise the inmates, with support from nearly three dozen non-sworn administrative employees. Lewis is the only T&T national detained there, officials confirmed
