11-21-2000 New Mexico:PORTALES, N.M. A convicted sex offender who had been arrested and jailed this month on multiple new felony charges involving sex with a young child hanged himself Sunday morning inside his cell at the Roosevelt County Detention Center, Sheriff C.D. Newberry Jr. said Monday.
The body of Alfonso P. Gonzales, 38, of Portales was discovered hanging from a bed sheet tied to an air vent in his jail cell about 6:20 a.m. MST on Sunday, Newberry said.
The death marked the first suicide in the detention center's new facility, which was built in the mid-1980s, officials said.
Gonzales had been in custody at the Roosevelt County Detention Center since Nov. 8, when he was arrested on five first-degree felony charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor; two third-degree felony charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor; and one charge of failure to register as a convicted sex offender, New Mexico State Police investigator Steve Mulkey said.
Gonzales' case had just been presented to a Roosevelt County grand jury on Thursday, when he was indicted on four of the charges of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and the two charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor, according to court records.
The additional charge of failure to register as a convicted sex offender was dropped because there were questions about his previous conviction coming before New Mexico's sex offender notification law took effect, officials said.
The more recent sexual molestation offenses took place with a child under 13 years of age between Oct. 29 and Nov. 6, court records show.
Gonzales was being held in lieu of $75,000 cash-only bond, according to jail records.
Authorities believe Gonzales hanged himself between 4:30 a.m. Sunday, when detention center officers conducted a routine check of inmates, and 6:20 a.m. Sunday, when the inmates in his section of the jail were being let out of their cells for breakfast, Newberry said.
Gonzales was alone in his locked cell, which was part of a day room with seven other cells housing nine other inmates.
An inmate who saw Gonzales hanging inside his cell immediately alerted detention officers.
Detention center employees and Portales Fire Department emergency medical technicians were unable to revive Gonzales.
Gonzales was not on suicide watch because he had not given any indication to officers or inmates that he planned to kill himself, Newberry said. ..Source.. by JANET BRESENHAM, Morris News Service
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