Suspected child molester died by hanging in East Bay jail

6-24-2016 California:

MARTINEZ — An inmate at the Contra Costa County jail in Martinez who died in a shower has been identified as suspected child molester Alexander Legaspi, authorities said Friday.

Legaspi, 57, of Bay Point, was found unconscious in a shower of the Martinez Detention Facility with a bed sheet tied to the shower frame Thursday. Legaspi was originally arrested July 6, 2015 on suspicion of 15 counts of child molestation.

A deputy found him about 7:15 a.m. after being notified by another inmate, spokesman Jimmy Lee said Thursday Medical staff responded. The deputy gave Legaspi CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy was conducted Friday morning and the cause of his death was deemed to be by hanging, authorities said. Per county protocol, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office is investigating the death, along with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office. ..Source.. by Angela Ruggiero

Clare County Jail inmate found dead

1-22-17 Michigan:

State police from the Mt. Pleasant post are investigating the death of a Clare County Jail inmate.

John Engel, 54, of Harrison was found dead in his cell by deputies and corrections staff at roughly 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Clare County Undersheriff Dwayne Miedzianowski said.

It appears Engel committed suicide, the undersheriff said.

Deputies contacted state police and turned the investigation over, Miedzianowski said.

Engel was in jail awaiting transfer to the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center at the state prison in Jackson, where male prisoners are taken before being placed.

Inmate, accused of sex crimes, dies in the Harnett County jail

12-21-16 North Carolina:

LILLINGTON A Harnett County inmate awaiting trial on felony sex charges was found dead in his cell on Tuesday morning.

Charles Robert Johnson, 53, was discovered unresponsive during Harnett County Detention Center cell checks at about 6:07 a.m., according to a sheriff’s office release. EMS units were summoned to treat Johnson at the detention center, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials did not observe any obvious signs that pointed to a cause of Johnson’s death, the release said.

The State Bureau of Investigation was notified of Johnson’s death and is now in charge of the investigation, the release said. An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death.

Johnson had been confined to the jail since Aug. 16, and was awaiting a Jan. 24 trial on several felony sex charges involving possession of child pornography and a statutory sexual offense with a child. ..Source.. by Chris Cioffi

Inmate Who Committed Suicide in County Jail is Alleged Child Molester from Bay Point

6-24-16 California:

The man who committed suicide in the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez this week is an alleged child molester from Bay Point, according to the Office of the Sheriff.

The deceased inmate has been identified as 57-year-old Alexander Legaspi of Bay Point. Legaspi was originally arrested by the Office of the Sheriff on July 6, 2015. He was being held on 15 felony counts of child molestation; his bail was set at $22,000,000, the Sheriff’s Office said.

On Thursday at about 7:15 a.m. during morning recreation time, an inmate notified a Deputy that there was an inmate passed out in the shower.

The Deputy immediately responded and found Legaspi slumped over inside the shower. A bed sheet was tied to the shower frame.

Gymnastics coach accused of child molestation found dead

9-20-15 Indiana:

An Indianapolis gymnastics coach who trained two members of the 2008 U.S. women's Olympics team was found dead of an apparent suicide in his jail cell, where he was being held on charges of child pornography and molestation, authorities said Sunday.

Marvin Sharp, 49, was found unresponsive at 8:17 p.m. Saturday in his cell at the Marion County Jail, sheriff's spokeswoman Katie Carlson said in a statement. She said foul play isn't suspected, but that she couldn't provide further information.

"A follow up investigation is being conducted by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Marion County Coroner's Office," Carlson said.

Sharp, who was the USA Gymnastics 2010 Coach of the Year, was arrested Aug. 24 on four local counts of child molestation and three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Federal prosecutors, in a superseding indictment filed Sept. 14, also charged Sharp with nine counts of producing child pornography since 2002 involving six female students as young as 6 or 7 years old.

Inmate at San Juan County Adult Detention Center fatally hangs self

12-22-2014 New Mexico:

FARMINGTON — An inmate died after hanging himself with a shredded bed sheet in his cell at the San Juan County Adult Detention Center on Monday, according to authorities.

Stephen Freeman, 53, from Bloomfield, was scheduled for a jury trial in Aztec District Court on Dec. 30 for narcotic drug charges among other charges, according to court records. He also was a convicted sex offender, according to court records.

Freeman showed no signs he was contemplating suicide, said Cory Tanner, a San Juan County Sheriff's Office detective lieutenant.

"His neighboring cell mates said that he didn't say anything about it," he said.

Deputies were dispatched to the jail before noon, according to a sheriff's office press release. Sheriff's office Detective Sgt. Kyle Lincoln said medics also responded.

State ferry worker, sex offender found dead in jail

7-12-2014 Washington:

A convicted sex offender who was caught taking photos of young girls while working on a Washington state ferry was found dead in his jail cell Saturday, the result of an apparent suicide.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that staff at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac found 50-year-old Steven Allen Dailey in his cell, unresponsive. The staff tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead by emergency medical personnel who responded.

A prison spokesman said foul play is not suspected and that the FBI is investigating it as an apparent suicide.

Dailey was taken into custody after a passenger spotted him taking photos of young girls July 3 on the Tillicum ferry, which runs from West Seattle to Vashon Island and Port Orchard. The passenger reported it to staff, who contacted police.

Dailey had been convicted of possessing child pornography in 2009. Federal court records state he had been caught taking part in a peer-to-peer child porn site. They found more than 500 images and 78 videos in his possession, some of them so graphic in nature, that he was given 10 years probation, which federal prosecutors say is unusually long.

Kentucky inmate starves himself to death; doctor fired, hunger strike rules rewritten

4-22-2014 Kentucky:

A prison doctor has been fired and two other staffers are in the midst of being dismissed after an inmate at the Kentucky State Penitentiary starved himself to death, a case that has exposed lapses in medical treatment and in how hunger strikes are handled at the facility. Prison officials have asked prosecutors to investigate after The Associated Press began asking questions about the inmate’s death.

James Kenneth Embry, 57 and with just three years left on a nine-year sentence for drug offences, began to spiral out of control in the spring of 2013 after he stopped taking anti-anxiety medication. Seven months later, in December, after weeks of erratic behaviour — from telling prison staff he felt anxious and paranoid to banging his head on his cell door — Embry eventually refused most of his meals. By the time of his death in January of this year, he had shed more than 30 pounds on his 6-foot frame and died weighing just 138 pounds, according to documents reviewed by the AP.

An internal investigation determined that medical personnel failed to provide him medication that may have kept his suicidal thoughts at bay and didn’t take steps to check on him as his condition worsened. The internal review of Embry’s death also exposed broader problems involving the treatment of inmates — including a failure to regularly check inmates on medical rounds and communication lapses among medical staff.

The AP, tipped off to Embry’s death, obtained scores of documents under Kentucky’s Open Records Act, including a report detailing the investigation into Embry’s death, an autopsy report and personnel files. Along with interviews with corrections officials and correspondence with inmates, the documents describe Embry’s increasingly paranoid behaviour until his death and the numerous opportunities for various prison staff to have intervened.

Pinellas Jail inmate chose death over prison

5-6-2014 Florida:

Just a few weeks before he was to be sentenced in a solicitation-to-commit murder case, a convicted sex offender was found dead over the weekend at the Pinellas County Jail, his defense attorney confirmed.

Attorney Deb Moss said Tuesday morning she was notified Saturday that David Tyler, 56, was found dead and that he appeared to have killed himself.

Tyler was convicted last month of solicitation to commit murder. Prosecutors claimed he enlisted a fellow inmate at the jail to find someone to kill his aunt after his aunt told a judge her nephew should not be released on bond during a pending case in which he was accused of stalking a 13-year-old boy.

Tyler was scheduled to be sentenced May 23 in the solicitation-to-commit murder case. Because of his criminal history, he faced a sentence of 15 years to life.

Child sex abuse suspect dies at Boston hospital

3-7-2014 Massachusetts:

A man charged with sexually abusing 13 children through his wife’s unlicensed child care business died at a hospital Friday night after an apparent suicide attempt in jail several hours earlier, his lawyer said.

Defense attorney William Barabino said John Burbine, a convicted sex offender, apparently tried to hang himself in his cell in an approximately 20-minute period between his guards’ regular checks on him.

"We don’t know why," Barabino said. "John was a smart man and apparently took an opportune time to do what he did."

He said Burbine was receiving half-hourly checks by guards, one of whom noticed him hanging in his cell about 10 minutes before the usual 8 a.m. check.

Burbine, 50, had no pulse, but he was revived through CPR, and efforts to maintain his pulse and breathing and to stabilize him continued for hours at the hospital, the attorney said. Burbine died at 6:26 p.m. without regaining consciousness, he said.

Man accused of child sexual assault found dead in Johnson County jail, officials say

8-12-2013 Texas:

A man accused of creating what Johnson County authorities described as “some of the worst child pornography” seized in years was found dead early Monday in his cell in the county jail, officials reported.

Jay Thomas Morgan, 50, of Arlington, died at 5:40 a.m., according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, which had not ruled on the cause or manner of death by late Monday.

Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said Morgan hanged himself with a T-shirt.

Morgan, who had been in jail since his arrest on July 31, 2012, was awaiting trial on charges of aggravated sexual assault of child/continued abuse of young child. His bail was $500,000.

Alford said Morgan’s trial was set for October.

Ohio man who held 3 women captive commits suicide

9-4-2013 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The man who held three women captive in his home for nearly a decade before one escaped and alerted authorities has been found dead and is believed to have committed suicide, a prison official said.

Ariel Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, located south of Columbus in central Ohio, JoEllen Smith, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday.

Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10:50 p.m.

He was in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch, Smith said. She said suicide watch entails constant observation.

Castro was also watched closely in Cuyahoga County Jail in the several weeks after his arrest and before his case was resolved by a guilty plea, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off county jail suicide watch in early June after authorities determined he was not a suicide risk.

Child sex abuse suspect hangs himself

8-12-2013 Virginia:

An Arlington man scheduled to stand trial in October on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child hanged himself Monday at the Johnson County Law Enforcement Center and was pronounced dead shortly after.

Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said Jay Morgan, 50, was discovered in his cell about 5:10 a.m.

Morgan, who was being held in solitary confinement, used his shirt to hang himself, Alford said.

Alford said Morgan had not attempted suicide before and was not on suicide watch. A guard discovered Morgan during the usual once every 30 minute rounds, he said.

Cleburne firefighters responded at 5:23 a.m. to find Morgan deceased with a homemade noose around his neck. Jail staff attempted to revive Morgan for several minutes without success, according to reports.

Johnson County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Ronny McBroom said he was notified of the hanging at 5:32 a.m. and arrived at the jail at 5:38 a.m.

McBroom pronounced Morgan dead at 5:40 a.m.

Lawyer Accused of Home Invasion, Sex Assault Dies in D.C. Jail

6-18-2013 Washington DC:

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Department of Labor lawyer who was accused of a home invasion at a co-worker’s home has been found dead in his cell at the D.C. Jail.

The Department of Corrections said in a statement that 58-year-old Paul Mannina of Ashton, Md., was found unresponsive on the bunk in his cell early Tuesday. The cause of death is under investigation.

Mannina had been in jail since last week. He was charged with attacking a co-worker at her northwest Washington home. According to court documents, the woman told police Mannina had a “crush” on her and that he used a stun gun on her during the attack. He was charged with first-degree burglary while armed and third-degree sexual abuse.

Vermont child molester dies in prison

2-14-2013 Vermont:

BRADFORD, Vt. - A trusted teacher who turned out to be a child molester died in jail Saturday. How he died remains a mystery. Bringing up his name in the town of Bradford Wednesday night made many people uneasy.

"If he had a heart attack or anything I'm not sorry for him. He went to jail for a reason and you have to do your time," said Candy Hazen.

Richard Foster worked at Bradford Elementary School for more than a decade when he did the unthinkable. The sixth grade teacher was convicted of sexually assaulting two students and using them to make porn at his Bradford home. Because of his criminal past, news of his death didn't upset Brandon Audet, one of Foster's former students.

"I'm not really too shocked. He was a sex offender so he deserved it in a way I guess," Audet said.

Foster was serving a 25 year sentence in federal prison when he died Saturday.

Convicted sex offender commits suicide in prison

10-29-2012 Pennsylvania:

A former Bensalem man serving 10 years in state prison for two sexual assaults was found hanging in his cell earlier this week.

Marvin Landaverry, 53, whose last address was Arrowhead Drive, was found unresponsive about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, less than one month after he arrived at the State Correctional Institute at Graterford in Montgomery County, according to prison spokeswoman Wendy Shaylor.

County Coroner Dr. Walter Hofman performed an autopsy Thursday morning and ruled Landaverry’s death a suicide; he asphyxiated as a result of hanging.

As per policy, the prison staff and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the death, but no further details, including what Landaverry used to hang himself, were released. Hofman said additional tests are being performed and results should be available in six weeks.

Landaverry pleaded guilty in June to charges of sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault on a person under age 13, aggravated indecent assault on a person under age 16 and related offenses involving two crimes that date to 2007 and 2011, according to court records. He had been at Graterford since Sept. 24, shortly after a Bucks County judge sentenced him to a minimum 10 years in prison for the two cases.

Bristol Township police initially charged Landaverry in January with indecent assault of a girl in 2007. In April, Bristol Township arraigned him on new charges of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault involving an adult woman.

The woman reported to police in January that she had been sexually assaulted by Landaverry at his Croydon home and various worksites between March and July 2011, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

The woman said she lives in “fear and terror” almost daily because of the attacks, according to the court documents.

After the woman moved, the attacks stopped, according to the documents. But the woman told police the suspect showed up unannounced at a family gathering during the holidays at her new home.

What the woman didn’t know is that another girl had already reported to police similar sexual assault allegations that occurred in 2007, according to the affidavit. Bucks County detectives had investigated those claims and Landaverry admitted to sexually assaulting the girl, according to the affidavit.

The methods Landaverry used to assault the girl were similar to those alleged by the woman, according to the affidavit. ..Source.. by Jo Ciavaglia Staff write

Man charged with child porn kills himself in cell, jails official says

8-14-2012 West Virginia:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia corrections official has confirmed a report of a suicide at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.

Paul O'Dell, deputy director of the state's Regional Jail Authority, said Joseph Daniel Albohn, 54, of Kanawha County, was found dead in his cell at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. O'Dell said Albohn apparently hanged himself with a bed sheet.

Albohn was sent to the jail on Aug. 1 on child pornography charges, O'Dell said. He said Albohn had been on a suicide watch, but that a psychologist had determined it was safe to take him off the watch on Aug. 10.

"When they're on suicide watch, they have nothing [they could use to harm themselves]," O'Dell said. Albohn would not have had access to bed sheets while on suicide watch.

O'Dell said Albohn was not back in the general prison population at the time of his death.

The West Virginia State Police is investigating.

According to a criminal complaint on file in Kanawha County Circuit Court, a family member turned Albohn in after finding a laptop computer with images of children engaged in sexual activity hidden under a nightstand in Albohn's bedroom. According to the complaint, the family member called Albohn while police were present and confronted him about the computer.

Albohn told the relative he had stopped looking at the images several months before and had hidden the laptop, according to the criminal complaint. He also reportedly had said he thought about destroying the laptop.

Albohn told the relative the Jerry Sandusky child-rape trial influenced his decision to stop looking at the images. In June, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over a 15-year period while serving as an assistant football coach at Penn State University.

In February, Albohn filed for bankruptcy, court records show. He listed his assets as $122,900 and liabilities as $107,435. ..Source.. by Rusty Marks

Authorities: Sex offender inmate commited suicide

7-12-2012 Massachusetts:

The first sex offender in the state convicted under Jessica’s Law apparently took his own life behind bars yesterday, authorities said.

A corrections officer found Robert Giglio, 49, hanging in his cell at Old Colony Correctional Center at about 4:23 p.m. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Morton Hospital, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

Giglio had been serving 15 to 20 years after he was convicted of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14 in Middlesex County Superior Court on Oct. 26, 2009. Giglio received a minimum sentence of 15 years under Jessica’s Law because he had a previous conviction for indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old. Gov. Deval Patrick signed the law in 2008, named after a Florida girl who was raped and murdered in February 2005 by a repeat sex offender.

Wiffin said Giglio wouldn’t have been eligible for parole until 2024.

Giglio was being held in a single cell at the medium security prison away from the general population for disciplinary reasons since July 4, according to Wiffin. Corrections officials and the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office are investigating the unattended death, but the case is believed to be a suicide. ..Source.. by Erin Smith

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.

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