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Assault Suspect Commits Suicide

2-29-2012 Pennsylvania:

An assault investigation in our area has come to an end after the suspect shot and killed himself over the weekend. 68-year-old Richard Lewis was identified as the suspect in an investigation into the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in Snyder County on Saturday.

The charges included rape, endangering the welfare of children and sexual assault. They were filed on Saturday at a district judge’s office. Troopers then learned that Lewis was at the rest stop in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 in Liberty Township. By the time they got there, Lewis had already shot himself in the head.

He was still alive and State Police tried to treat him at the scene until the ambulance got there. He was taken to the Geisinger Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Lewis worked for 20 years as an officer with the Danville Police Department and worked as a state Constable at the time of his death.

No other details have been released on the incident that led to the filing of charges against Lewis. The affidavit was to be handled by District Judge Jeffrey Mensch in Mifflinburg, but they hadn’t received it as of this afternoon. ..Source.. by Chris O'Rourke

Child Porn Suspect Commits Suicide

10-7-2005 Florida:

A Lakeland man committed suicide Sunday, a day after he was released from jail, where he had been held on child pornography charges.

Timothy James Hickman, 27, of 1410 S. Warren Ave., was arrested Sept. 29 on 25 counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Hickman got out of jail Saturday after posting $25,000 bail.

He was found dead at home Sunday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Polk County Examiner's Medical office said. ..Source.. by The Ledger.com

HPD: Man kills self at scene of sexual assault

2-22-2012 Texas:

HOUSTON – Authorities say a man killed himself while officers responded to the scene of a sexual assault in northeast Houston on Saturday.

According to HPD, officers got a call around 8 p.m. that a 15-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted at a home near the intersection of Denmark and Bonita.

Police said a patrol officer went to check it out and found a girl in the front of the residence. The officer called an ambulance and she was taken to the hospital for treatment.

According to police, the officer went inside the home and found a back bedroom locked. He identified himself as police and asked if anyone was inside. The officer then heard a single gunshot and called for SWAT to respond.

After SWAT arrived to the scene they entered the bedroom and found a dead man inside.

He was later identified as 41-year-old Rodney Estrada.

Police would not release any additional details about the sex assault allegations or the victim’s relationship to Estrada. ..Source.. by khou.com staff

Larry Ruffin died in prison but was innocent

11-7-2010 Mississippi:

From The Innocence Project: Larry Ruffin

Larry Ruffin narrowly avoided the death penalty and served more than two decades in Mississippi prisons for a murder and rape he didn’t commit and died in a prison accident before he could be exonerated. Eight years after his death, DNA testing obtained by Innocence Project New Orleans would officially clear his name.

Ruffin was wrongfully convicted of raping and killing a woman in her Forrest County, Mississippi, home on May 4, 1979. The only witness was the victim’s 4-year-old son, who consistently described seeing one man raping and killing his mother. Ruffin was arrested first for the crime. Two other men, Phillip Bivens and Bobby Ray Dixon, were arrested in the case 18 months later.

The three men gave confessions to police, under the threat of the death penalty. Their confessions were inconsistent with each other and in places, factually inaccurate. Dixon and Bivens pled guilty and testified at Ruffin’s trial in exchange for life sentences. Dixon recanted his earlier testimony and confession implicating Ruffin while on the stand at Ruffin’s trial. Ruffin was convicted by a jury and sentenced to life in prison after a hung jury prevented a death sentence.

Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) and co-counsel Rob McDuff — lawyers for Dixon, Bivens and the Ruffin family — obtained DNA testing with the consent of the Forrest County district attorney in June 2010. Testing was performed on semen left on the victim’s body by the perpetrator and the DNA profile was run through the FBI’s DNA database. The profile from the crime scene excluded all three of the men convicted and implicated another man who was convicted of raping another woman in her home in the same county two years later.

Based on the results, IPNO and McDuff filed motions calling for the three men’s convictions to be dismissed and for their immediate exoneration. Dixon, who has suffered from seizures his entire life, was diagnosed with lung cancer that spread to his brain. He was released on medical parole in August 2010.

In September, Forrest County Circuit Judge Bob Helfrich threw out the convictions of Dixon and Bivens and ordered evidence be presented to a grand jury on the alleged real perpetrator. Because Ruffin had passed away in 2002, his conviction could not be overturned through regular post-conviction procedures. However, on December 14, 2010, he, along with Bivens and Dixon, were officially exonerated when a Forrest County Grand Jury that heard all of the evidence declined to indict the three men.

Dixon passed away on November 7, 2010 while awaiting his complete exoneration.

Mississippi Man Dies Months After DNA Proved Innocence

11-9-2010 Mississippi:

From the Innocence Project: Bobby Ray Dixon

Less than two months after being cleared of a rape he did not commit, Bobby Ray Dixon has died. Dixon along with Phillip Bivens and Larry Ruffin were wrongfully convicted of a 1979 rape and murder and spent more than thirty years behind bars before DNA evidence proved their innocence.

The Daily Comet reported that Dixon died Sunday after suffering from lung and brain cancer. He was 53 years old. Dixon’s brother Jerry Dixon was happy his brother lived long enough to be cleared of the crimes.
"He knew his name was cleared before he left. He wanted to be baptized again, and I thank God he got to do that," Jerry Dixon said Tuesday. "He wanted to ride a bicycle and he got to do that. He had been locked up for 32 years."
Dixon was already out on medical release due to his cancer diagnosis when news of his actual innocence was announced on September 16. Ruffin died in prison in 2002 before seeing his name cleared.

Bivens and Dixon falsely confessed to the crime after a police interrogation and allegedly implicated another man Ruffin as the rapist. They pled guilty to the crime, but would soon recant, saying they had been beaten and forced to implicate Ruffin. DNA tests obtained by the Innocence Project New Orleans, a member of the Innocence Network, pointed to the involvement of another man, who is in prison for a separate rape.

Jerry Dixon said funeral services will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at New Zion Baptist Church in Jones County, Mississippi.

Innocent man who died in prison gets marker

2-6-2012 Texas:

FORT WORTH, TX -- Hundreds gathered to unveil a historical marker at the grave of a man who died in prison but was later cleared by DNA testing of the crime that sent him there.

U.S. Army veteran and Texas Tech University student Tim Cole was convicted of the 1985 rape of a fellow student. He always maintained his innocence, even though admitting to the crime could have earned him parole.

In 1999, at 39, Cole died in prison of asthma complications. In 2008, DNA tests cleared him and implicated convicted rapist Jerry Wayne Johnson, who had confessed in letters to court officials dating to 1995.

Preventing Suicide in Prison: A Collaborative Responsibility of Administrative, Custodial, and Clinical Staff

2006:

Abstract:
Suicide is a sentinel event in prison, and preventive efforts reflect the adequacy and comprehensiveness of mental health, psychiatric, custodial, and administrative services in a correctional system. This article reviews the literature on suicide in prison during the past three decades and identifies the pattern and occurrence of risk factors. These risk factors are classified as demographic, institutional, and clinical. Based on this review, the author outlines specific administrative, custodial, and clinical steps and procedures that form the basis of a comprehensive suicide-prevention program that can be implemented in small and large systems. The author recognizes the limitations of staff availability, the budget constraints, and the ineffectiveness of efforts to prevent suicides that occur without any warning. Ultimately, a prevention program is the collective responsibility of administrative, custodial, and clinical staff.

The study of suicide in prisons has increased dramatically since the 1980s. Factors contributing to this increase include the rising frequency of suicide in prisons; class action lawsuits related to suicide; deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill; and lack of community-based programs for mentally ill criminals.1–6 Legal reforms, prison diversionary programs, and regional differences in suicide rates7 have also influenced the research.

..For the remainder of this paper: by Anasseril E. Daniel, MD, Daniel Correctional Psychiatric Services, 33 E. Broadway, Suite 115, Columbia, MO 65203

Prison and Jail Suicide

1999:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Suicide in correctional facilities is more prevalent than in the general population, and constitutes the leading cause of death for those in custody. There are several factors that have been found to be correlates of prison suicides, including the security of the facility, the crime committed that caused the inmate's incarceration, and the phase of imprisonment the inmate is in.

Due to the fact that many of the inmates who commit suicide have feelings of depression and hopelessness, have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, or have expressed suicidal thoughts or behaviours in the past, efforts at adequate intervention and treatment need to be improved. Researchers have devised theoretical profiles of "typical" inmate suicidal behaviour, but a profile alone is unable to provide corrections staff with a reliable method of distinguishing between suicidal and non-suicidal inmates. The communication and reporting of information needs to be improved, to allow for a more accurate picture of the effects of personal characteristics and of the institution on suicidal behaviours.

Risk factors exist that enhance suicidal intentions, and these factors are related to the circumstances of imprisonment or to the personal history of the inmate. Some examples of these factors include one's view of incarceration, the effects of incarceration, the conditions in the correctional facility, one's history, current family or life situation, the circumstances surrounding one's incarceration, or one's race.

Primary prevention efforts and secondary prevention efforts are both ways that correctional facilities have tried to reduce the rate of suicide. Correctional Service of Canada has also created a plan to combat suicides, entitled "The National Strategy for the Prevention of Suicide and Reduction of Self-Injury." Even though efforts are made to reduce the suicide rate in prisons, the task of suicide prevention remains a low priority for correctional institutions.

Correctional settings also try to come up with intervention programs. The key to intervention programs lies in the accurate communication of relevant information regarding the past or recent behaviour of suicidal inmates. The individual facts of each case suggests which method of intervention is most appropriate for the individual inmate.

Suicide treatment programs have been ineffective because they are based on the view that suicide is strictly a problem for doctors and medication to solve, but it is being recognized that greater significance needs to be given to the environment, and to the importance of providing activities to relieve stress. The issue of suicide must be recognized as a joint responsibility between staff, medical and psychiatric personnel, family and friends, and other inmates. Few jails and prisons have so far succeeded in consistently and effectively detecting and intervening in incidents of inmate suicidal behaviour.

While there is more that can be done, the fact is that prison and jail are brutally harsh environments that some simply are not able to cope with. After we have done all the prevention and intervention possible with the environmental constraints, will we then step back and look at prison itself? Perhaps the solution to inmate suicide lies in more discriminate and appropriate use of incarceration, keeping less serious offenders in the community and making better use of mental health facilities for inmates with mental health concerns.

..For the remainder of this paper: by The John Howard Society of Alberta

LCSO Releases Information on Deceased Inmate

2-22-2012 Mississippi:

The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department released some information Wednesday about an inmate who died at the prison in Lost Gap.

Officials with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department say 35-year-old Stuart Brooks, an inmate at East Mississippi Correctional Facility died earlier this week. As an outside agency, LCSO investigates all deaths at the state prison.

Brooks was serving a three year sentence out of Warren County for failure to register as a sex offender.

The prison originally reported the death as a possible suicide, but the sheriff's department is investigating to find out exactly what happened.

"Investigators are currently doing interviews, talking with staff and other inmates at the prison," said Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun. "At this point in time, it is still a death investigation. No final determination has been made. We'll make the results of our investigation available to the public at the appropriate time."

Preliminary reports from an autopsy could not determine the cause of death, but Calhoun says they're still discussing that with the state medical examiner's office. ..Source.. by WTOK.com

Remains Of Ohio Teen Missing For 13 Years Found In Rapist’s Home

Posted in Related Deaths
2002 Ohio:

Police are saying that the skeleton of a fourteen-year-old Ohio runaway that has been missing since 1999 has been discovered after the home where she was last seen was demolished.

The Lima News reported that Lima police on Saturday stated that the remains of Nicholle Coppler were discovered in a crawl space while the home’s foundation was being dug out. Allen County Coroner Gary Beasley stated that they were identified from her dental records.

Glen Fryer, who owned the home, was a suspect in Coppler’s death. The newspaper reported that he was 55 when he committed suicide in 2002 while waiting for his sentencing for raping a girl.

The state took possession and demolished the home because of unpaid taxes. Coppler’s remains were the only ones discovered.

Missing Cleveland Mother Latasha Jackson, 13 MO Chaniya Wynn Killed by Thomas Lorde in Double Murder-Suicide

Posted in Related Deaths
2-19-2012 Ohio:

Cleveland, OH, police have confirmed Latasha Jackson and her 13 month old daughter, Chaniya Wynn, who were kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, Thomas Lorde, 35, yesterday afternoon, were found dead Sunday morning in a double murder-suicide. The bodies were found with Thomas Lorde’s in a closed garage of an unoccupied structure on Union Avenue. All were found with gunshot wounds to the head.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Office will determine the official cause of death for all three individuals, Fox 8 reports. Latasha Jackson and Chaniya Wynn were taken at gunpoint by Thomas Lorde on the streets at about 11:44 a.m. Saturday and were last seen walking south down East 72nd Street. This is a sad, sad case and the mother and child didn’t deserve the hand they were dealt by Thomas Lorde, who is a registered sex offender with a long and violent criminal history.

'Incestuous' Sex Images Found on Josh Powell's Computer Before Murder-Suicide

Posted in Related Deaths
2-10-2012 Washington:

(NewsCore) - Images depicting incestuous sex between a parent and child were found on Josh Powell's computer and handed over to Washington investigators just days before he brutally murdered his two children and then killed himself.

The material stored on the computer was deemed to be so disturbing that one psychologist working on the Powell's custody case recommended that the court prevent the children from being returned to their father, KING 5 reported late Thursday, citing Thomas Shapley of Washington's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

The images included very realistic "lifelike" simulations of incestuous sex acts, Pierce County officers said, and may have prompted a judge to order that Josh Powell undergo a psychosexual evaluation, according to the report.

Police in West Valley, Utah, discovered the documents and sent them to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department under a restrictive court order Feb. 1.

On Feb. 5, Josh Powell blew up the family home in Graham, Wash., with his sons, seven-year-old Charlie and five-year-old Braden, inside. Authorities believe he hacked his sons in the head and neck with a hatchet before the explosion took place.

Putnam body confirmed as sex offender's

2-13-2012 Florida:

The partially decomposed remains of a man found Sunday in a remote area of Dunns Creek State Park have been identified as 37-year-old Dwight S. McDaniel of Satsuma.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said it's an apparent suicide. McDaniel, a registered sex offender, had been missing since Jan. 31. It was initially thought he may have absconded because of his sex-offender status. McDaniel was last seen walking over the Dunns Creek Bridge near the area where his body was eventually found.

He was convicted in 1991 on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s registered sexual offender database. ..Source.. by Scott Butler

78 inmate deaths from 2010-11 not disclosed by Corrections

The full story is HERE. Below is only one who was serving time for a sexual offense and died or committed suicide.
5-11-2011 Oregon:

Ellis Dement: Suicide

..Source.. by Oregon DOC

78 inmate deaths from 2010-11 not disclosed by Corrections

The full story is HERE. Below is only one who was serving time for a sexual offense and died or committed suicide.
11-27-2011 Oregon:

Michael Halverson: Suicide

..Source.. by Oregon DOC

UPDATE: Man suspected of sexually assaulting children commits suicide

1-24-2012 Colorado:

A 53-year-old man was found dead Tuesday afternoon in a police station parking lot, hours after police announced his arrest in connection with the sexual assault of four children.

Raymond Lavell Turner's body was found shortly after 3 p.m. when a person noticed a man slumped over in a vehicle in the parking lot of the Police Operation Center, near Rio Grande Street and Nevada Avenue, according to Colorado Springs police.

Police suspect he shot himself inside the black sedan.

Turner was arrested Thursday on suspicion of four counts of sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust. He was booked into the El Paso County jail Thursday and posted a $25,000 bond that same day, according to court records.

The alleged incidents happened between August 2010 and July 2011, according to Turner’s arrest affidavit. All four children – two girls and two boys – were under the age of 9.

Police were initially notified about the assaults on Sept. 1 when one of the boys told his mother that he had been touched inappropriately while staying the night at Turner’s house in July and August.

He told police that he had gone into Turner’s room because he had a bad dream and, while there, he was touched inappropriately. When he was supposed to return to Turner’s house for babysitting, he broke down in tears and told his mom what happened.

When questioned by police, Turner denied the accusation.

A few months later, on Nov. 7, another mother called police when her children told her that Turner had assaulted them.

The children, who temporarily shared a residence with Turner and his wife, said they were assaulted between August and October. The assaults weren’t reported earlier because the children had told another adult, who didn’t report it.

All three of those children said that they also had been inappropriately touched by Turner. ..Source.. by THE GAZETTE

Coroner: Vandergrift assault suspect kills self on day of trial

2-8-2012 Pennsylvania:

A Vandergrift man committed suicide on Monday, the day he was scheduled for trial on sexual assault charges, authorities said.

James A. Loughner, 60, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his residence, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner's Office.

Loughner was accused by Vandergrift police of sexually assaulting a 27-year-old mentally challenged woman twice, once at his apartment in late 2010 and later at her home on Jan. 1, 2011. The victim allegedly asked Loughner to stop touching her during both instances, but Loughner told the woman to "relax" and continued, according to court documents.

The woman told police that Loughner had apologized to her after the first incident and promised that it wouldn't happen again. Police said she believed him and invited the defendant to her apartment to watch a hockey game. ..Source.. by Tribune-Review

Police: Sexual assault suspect jumps in front of Red Line train

2-18-2011 Illinois:

A sexual assault suspect was killed Saturday night when he reportedly jumped in front of a CTA train on the South Side.

A southbound CTA Red Line train struck the man about 9:30 p.m. Saturday near the 87th Street station, CTA spokeswoman Wanda Taylor said.

He was dead on the scene after he reportedly jumped in front of the train, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Police identified the man as 32-year-old Theus Beal, who fled from the 8900 block of South Eberhart Avenue about 9 p.m. when officers responded to take a report from a teenage girl who accused him of sexual assaulting her earlier that evening at Beal’s home in the 0-100 block of East 121st Place, according to a police report.

After the alleged attack, Beal and the girl went to the Eberhart address, where he grabbed a butcher knife and threatened to harm himself with it after allegedly admitting to the assault, according to the police report. He told the people there that he was going to commit suicide and fled when officers began arriving the report said.

An autopsy is scheduled for later Sunday.

Power was shut off between the 79th Street and 95th Street stations, Taylor said, but normal service resumed as of 12:15 a.m. A shuttle bus service took passengers between those stations until 12:30 a.m.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating. ..Source.. by SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE

Man accused of sexually assaulting children found dead

4-18-2011 Nebraska:

The body of a man charged with sexually assaulting children is found dead in an irrigation ditch. And, the death is being called a suicide.

The body of 43-year-old Daniel Fischer was found Sunday by family members.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer said Fischer died from self-inflicted wounds.

The sheriff says Fischer's death was mostly likely last Wednesday, the day his wife was arrested.

Fischer was charged with nine counts of sexual assault of a child earlier this month.

He was released on bond.

When officers went to arrest him Wednesday on a separate charge, they couldn't find him.

Five girls, ages 7 to 15, reported being assaulted by Fischer at his home.

His wife, 38-year-old Deanna, has been charged with child abuse.

Authorities said she photographed one of the assaults. ..Source.. by KHAS-TV5

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Officials: Death of Sunday School Teacher Charged in Sex Assaults was Suicide

A Hershey man recently charged with sexually assaulting children was found dead on Sunday. Authorities say he committed suicide.

43-year-old Daniel Fischer was charged earlier this month with three counts of sexual assault of children. At that time authorities were still investigating, unsure how many more people might come forward. Fischer was released on bond.

"After our first arrest we, through continued investigation, we found more victims and they gave us more information which led us to getting a warrant issued for [Fischer] and his wife," said Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer.

Kramer says deputies went to Fischer's residence northwest of Hershey on Wednesday, April 13 to serve him with that other warrant. When they couldn't locate him, their initial thought was that he may have fled.

"In the beginning we were involved in the search as we would have any other fugitive that we thought was immediately avoiding arrest," Kramer said.

Fischer's truck was found near a canal on his property, and the Nebraska State Patrol assisted with an air search. When Fischer wasn't found, authorities stopped searching, but Kramer said Fischer's family continued to search for him. They found his body Sunday.

"It wasn't too far from his residence," Kramer said. "We knew from when we were out there before that he had abandoned one of the farm pickups nearby, near the canal, and that was the last anybody had seen or heard from him. That's where he was found was in the canal right near the vehicle."

Kramer wouldn't elaborate on cause of death for sake of the family, only to say that Fischer died of self-inflicted injuries. He said that foul play was not suspected.

"You always have to take that into consideration, that somebody might be very upset," Kramer said. "We didn't have contact with anybody that was that upset that they would have given us any impression that they would be emotionally involved enough to do something that extreme."

Fischer's wife Deanna was arrested on April 13 when deputies went to their residence. She has been charged with felony child abuse. Investigators say she photographed one of the assaults. Kramer said that investigation was completed when she was arrested, and that her court cases are still pending. ..Source.. by Megan Johnson

Inmate at Cascade County jail found hanging in cell

5-26-2011 Montana:

Michael Kimball, an inmate at the Cascade County Detention Center, is dead after he was found hanging in his cell on Thursday.

Kimball, 39, was found at approximately 6 pm on Wednesday.

According to a press release from Commander Dan O'Fallon, Kimball had contact with Detention staff about 15 minutes before he was found hanging in his cell.

Kimball was transported to Emergency Room and was pronounced dead around 1 am on Thursday.

O'Fallon says Kimball was moved into the private cell two hours prior to the incident and was checked on six times during that period.

Lewis & Clark County Coroner Mickey Nelson is conducting the investigation into Kimball's death.

He says a sheet was used in the hanging and that a note was found in the cell.

Kimball was charged in March with two counts of incest for allegedly having sex with one of his children several times from 2007 to 2010.

O'Fallon issued the following press release on Thursday afternoon:
At approximately 6:00 pm on May 25, 2011 while passing out mail an inmate by the name of Michael Kimball was found hanging in his cell by detention staff.

Detention staff had contact with inmate Kimball just 15 minutes earlier during meal tray pick up.

Inmate Kimball was transported to the ER where he passed away at 1:00am.

"Mickey" Nelson coroner from Lewis and Clark County was contacted to investigate this death as required by statute for all deaths while in custody.
..Source.. by KRTV.com

Official: Ukrainian hockey coach Ivan Pravilov found dead in cell in suspected suicide in Pa.

2-11-2012 Pennsylvania:

PHILADELPHIA — A Ukrainian hockey coach was found dead of a suspected suicide while in custody in Philadelphia on child-molestation charges, a U.S. prison official said.

Ivan Pravilov, 49, was found unresponsive in his cell at 3 a.m. Friday, according to spokesman Darrin Howard of the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.

A preliminary FBI investigation suggested the death was a suicide, Howard said. An autopsy is pending.

Pravilov was a mentor to several NHL and U.S. college players, including Dainius Zubrus of the New Jersey Devils, who played for him as a teen in Ukraine.

Other former players have said his methods included physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

“For 10 years, he brainwashed us every single day,” former player Maxim Starchenko said Friday after learning of the death. Starchenko, 33, of suburban Detroit, wrote a recent book about Pravilov called “Behind the Iron Curtain: Tears in the Perfect Hockey ‘Gulag.’”

“He got away with it too easy. I wanted to look him in the eye in the courtroom and just ask him, ‘Just what were you thinking all these years?’”

Pravilov ran an elite hockey school in Ukraine from the 1980s until about 2007, when he came to the U.S. to run camps for standout players from the U.S. and abroad. Players from Ukraine and elsewhere typically enrolled for about a month, staying with host families and traveling with Pravilov to various U.S. cities for tournaments and clinics.

On Jan. 3, he allegedly brought two 14-year-old Ukrainian boys to his Philadelphia apartment from a family home in Wilmington, Del., and fondled one of them during the night. The other boy was later threatened in a locker room, authorities alleged. A host parent contacted police.

Pravilov had been in custody since Homeland Security agents arrested him last month. He was later indicted on charges he took the teen across state lines for sexual purposes.

Pravilov had pleaded not guilty. He had appeared animated in several court appearances, speaking to his lawyer through a translator, and telling the judge he had been unable to call his lawyer to work on his case from the prison. He waived his right to bail at his last hearing on Feb. 1, perhaps because he was wanted by Interpol.

The warrant stems from a 2007 fight involving several men in Ukraine.

U.S. prosecutors considered Pravilov both a danger and a flight risk. But he was not deemed a suicide risk, and was being held in a two-man cell in a regular prison unit. The last head count was at midnight, although guards roaming the unit might have seen him alive later, Howard said.

Defense lawyer Mark Wilson spent four hours at the prison seeing other clients Friday afternoon without learning of Pravilov’s death. Lawyers, like other visitors, cannot bring cellphones inside. He did not get the news until Friday evening.

“It’s shocking, but it’s not in some ways. He was not happy about his situation,” Wilson told The Associated Press.

Still, he and Pravilov planned a strong defense, and he did not consider him a suicide risk. He said the cause of death was not yet clear.

“We had a story to present,” said the veteran public defender, who declined to elaborate on their strategy.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia, which was prosecuting Pravilov, declined to comment.

Serhiy Ivanchov of the Consulate General of Ukraine, said officials there had no comment as they tried to reach family members. The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, which was conducting the autopsy Friday, was also trying to reach family members, spokesman Jeff Moran said.

Pravilov was not married and had no children, according to Zubrus’ mother, Irene Zubriene. Pravilov used her Cherry Hill, N.J., home as a mail drop and visited her weekly before his arrest. A close friend, she has blamed the arrest on lingering rivalries from Ukraine.

Zubriene did not return messages Friday. Her son did not return messages left with the Devils. ..Source.. by Washington Post

Car-fire victim a sex offender

2-5-2012 Pennsylvania:

State police from the Embreeville barracks today identified the man who died last week after setting his car on fire as 38-year-old Thomas J. Evasew of Phoenixville.

The coroner ruled the death a suicide. Court records show that Evasew was paroled last May after serving a 6- to 23-month sentence for disseminating and possessing child pornography. He was still on probation in that case, court records said.

Troopers responding to a reported vehicle fire at 5:18 p.m. Wednesday at 3285 Phoenixville Pike found a 2005 red Ford Focus "fully involved in fire," police said. Inside the vehicle they saw the body.

Sycamore child porn suspect found dead of apparent suicide

2-3-2012 Illinois:

SYCAMORE – A Sycamore Park District employee was found dead in his home Thursday when police arrived to arrest him on child pornography charges.

Brian A. Cobb, 42, of the 1100 block of Wild Street in Sycamore, was wanted on a warrant charging him with 29 counts, most of which were related to child pornography.

Officers attempted to serve the warrant at Cobb’s house when a family member arrived, entered the home and found the body, according to a news release from the Sycamore Police Department. Cobb died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

Cobb, who worked for the park district for more than 15 years, was the superintendent of parks maintenance. He faced accusations of soliciting teenage girls, taking and reproducing nude photos of a 14-year-old girl and exposing himself to her via the Internet.

Man charged in sex case hangs self in county jail

2-1-2012 Ohio:

JEFFERSON — An inmate at the Ashtabula County Jail, charged with gross sexual imposition, died Sunday at Hamot Medical Center in Erie after hanging himself Friday morning, Sheriff William Johnson said Monday.

Dwayne A. Crites, 38, 4841 Route 322, Williamsfield Township, died of injuries consistent with asphyxiation Sunday after he was found hanging in his cell Friday morning, said Johnson, who was citing the autopsy report.

“At 6:30 a.m. during routine bed checks, Crites was found hanging in his cell. Our corrections staff immediately took him down and began CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and they had him breathing on his own before the rescue squad arrived,” Johnson said. “He had used his bed sheets to hang himself.”

The Jefferson Fire Department responded to the scene and transported Crites to the Ashtabula County Medical Center. He was then transported by helicopter to Hamot Medical Center.

“He was in intensive care and then expired on Sunday,” said Lt. Terry Moisio, jail administrator.

Moisio said Crites gave no indication to any of the staff that he was contemplating suicide, but no one can predict human behavior.

“We can follow every protocol and every procedure, but we cannot control everything,” he said.

“This is why we do constant shakedowns and bed checks,” Johnson said. “This was unfortunate, but I am very proud of how our staff handled the situation.”

Crites was arraigned on Jan. 23, and on Friday he was bound over to Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court on a charge of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony, according to court dockets.

“He was facing a long time in jail pending conviction,” Johnson said. ..Source.. by ELLEN KOLMAN