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AL- Albertville authorities ID prisoner who apparently hanged himself

9-28-2009 Alabama:

An Albertville City Jail inmate who apparently hanged himself Friday night has been identified as Allan Jerald Silas, 37, Rose Road, a press release from the Albertville Police Department stated.

Corrections officers discovered Silas’ body about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

Silas apparently had torn the bed sheets and formed a rope used in his death.

Attempts to revive Silas were unsuccessful, and Marshall County Coroner Marlon Killion was called to the jail, where the inmate was pronounced dead.

Silas had been in custody since Aug. 13 and was being held on four misdemeanor warrants including a bad check charge and three failure-to-appear charges. He was a registered sex offender.

There also was a custodial hold on Silas by the State Probation Office.

The investigation is ongoing, a spokesman for the department stated. ..Source.. by Times Staff Reports

UK- SUICIDE DEAN SEX QUIZ

9-27-2009 United Kingdom:

A SENIOR clergyman believed to have killed himself at his home was under investigation for indecency, police confirmed last night.

The Reverend Ian Thompson, Dean of Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge, died at his house in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, on Thursday afternoon.

Paramedics were called to attend a cardiac arrest, thought to have been caused by asphyxiation. Police are not treating the death as suspicious. They said the cleric, 50, also a renowned theologian, was being investigated for crimes of a sexual nature in Strathclyde. ..Source.. by Daily Express Reporter

MI- Probation officer charged with soliciting sex commits suicide

9-26-2009 Michigan:

WYANDOTTE — A 27th District Court probation officer has committed suicide after being charged with soliciting sex from an 18-year-old woman.

Late Thursday afternoon Police Chief Daniel Grant confirmed that the body of Robert Joseph Samson was found in Oscoda County. The 60-year-old Wyandotte resident died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Michigan State Police investigators said Samson had a drug-counseling business on the side, in addition to his job as a probation officer at the court that serves Wyandotte and Riverview.

Samson reportedly encouraged a woman on probation to take his drug program. It was alleged that he would waive the fee for the program if she would engage in various sex acts with him.

Detective Sgt. Kenneth Walker of the Michigan State Police Metro South Post in Taylor said the woman had met with police a week earlier and provided information that there could be “inappropriate and illegal” activity at a drug class held at the Horizon Building in Taylor.

“We took that information and began surveillance,” Walker said.

It’s not clear where the activity was supposed to have occurred, but Walker said it would have been outside of the normally scheduled class. When police believed they had enough evidence, they moved in and arrested Samson.

He was arraigned Tuesday at 23rd District Court in Taylor on four felony counts of soliciting criminal sexual misconduct. Walker said Samson cooperated with the investigation after the arrest. He was released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.

On Wednesday, Walker said state police still had an active investigation going, believing that other probationers might have received similar propositions.

Detective Sgt. Joseph White of the Michigan State Police Second District headquarters, who was handling the case, said as of Friday morning that he had not received confirmation of Samson’s death. He said he had heard about it only through unofficial channels.

He said he was aware of a couple of people who posted allegations against Samson on a WXYZ TV (Channel 7) blog, but he had not been contacted by anyone other than the 18-year-old woman concerning similar sexual propositions that Samson might have made.

Grant said that when a person dies far from home, it is common for law enforcement agencies to contact police in the victim’s home city. In most cases, it is then up to local police to contact next of kin.

Grant said it is not known why Samson chose to drive to the county in northeastern Michigan. He said it was believed that Samson had a second house in the Howell area, but he had no known connections to Oscoda County.

Ed Pokrzywnicki, Oscoda County undersheriff, said a passer-by came across Samson’s body on Oak Lake Road in an area about 15 miles outside of Mio, near Lewiston.

“It’s a county road — primarily gravel — in a very rural area,” Pokrzywnicki said. “I don’t know why he was here. He might have been to the area before.”

Pokrzywnicki said Samson’s body was found on the ground next to his vehicle, with a rifle next to him.

Natalie Shaul, probation director for 27th District Court, said Samson had been suspended Tuesday morning. The department had a resignation letter that he was asked to sign Thursday, but he never showed up.

Shaul said Samson had been with the probation department since 1983, starting as a volunteer. In 1996 he was hired as a paid part-time probation officer. He worked 24 hours per week, with no benefits.

Samson also served as 27th District Court’s work force coordinator. He is credited with developing the program.

“All of us are shocked,” Shaul said after his arraignment. “I almost fell out of my chair.”

Shaul said she wasn’t aware of what Samson “dabbled in” outside of work, but he appeared to be a good probation officer. She said she never received any calls from probationers with allegations against Samson.

“I had no indication of this,” she said.

Grant said Samson’s suicide was a sad ending to the story.

“It’s unfortunate that there’s no way of telling when someone is that despondent,” he said. “If you knew that, maybe you could get them some help.” ..Source.. by Jim Kasuba

IL- Coroner's jury rules hanging at jail was suicide

9-17-2009 Illinois:

URBANA – A Champaign County coroner's jury has ruled that a man found hanging from a bed sheet at the county jail intended to kill himself.

The jury Thursday found the death of Todd Kelly, 42, who last lived in the 4800 block of West Windsor Road, to be a suicide. The jury also recommended constant, rather than intermittent, monitoring of known suicidal inmates.

Mr. Kelly died June 25 at Carle Foundation Hospital, where he had been hospitalized since June 7. About 10:45 a.m. that day, he was found hanging by a bed sheet from a stairwell in a day room at the satellite jail on Lierman Avenue in Urbana.

Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup said the cause of death was a lack of oxygen to the brain.

Sheriff's investigator Tony Shaw said Mr. Kelly had been in segregation because of his mental issues, which included previous suicide attempts. At the time he was found, Mr. Kelly was alone, out of his cell for the hour of recreation he was allowed. The seven inmates in that pod were allowed out of their cells one at a time, Shaw said, and no other inmates saw Mr. Kelly before a correctional officer found him hanging.

UK- Jury decides child sex case teacher killed himself

5-16-2009 United Kingdom:

A FORMER headteacher at the centre of a missing person enquiry in Stourbridge killed himself after child sex allegations.

Paul Powell lived in Lowestoft but after he disappeared in May cops believed he may have returned to the Black Country where he had family connections.

The search for the 45-year-old, who lived on a house boat in Sea Lake Marina, Oulton Broad, ended when his body was found on a railway embankment in Norwich around two weeks after he is thought to have taken his own life.

In February Powell was arrested in Norwich on suspicion of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13, he was due to answer police bail on May 6, the day after he went missing.

His body was discovered by a railway worker on May 16, a post mortem revealed Powell had suffered injuries to his chest and pelvis consistent with being struck by a train.

Investigators found no records of any collisions involving a train at the site where Powell’s body was found and it was estimated his death occurred at some time on May 5 or 6, near Old Hall Cattle Market in Norwich.

On Thursday September 9, an inquest jury returned a verdict of suicide while Powell was in a disturbed state of mind. ..Source.. by Stourbridge News

CA- One Dead After Gun Pulled At Local Government Center

9-14-2009 California:

Ventura, CA-- A registered sex offender took his own life in a public parking lot before a court appearance Monday morning.

It happened in parking lot "B" at the Ventura County's Hall of Justice.

Investigators say, the 39 year old Oxnard man was released just last month after serving almost a year on child porn charges. A Spanish language translator helped investigators learn, that his ex-wife had a restraining order against him.

She was headed to court for a divorce settlement hearing.

According to witnesses, the man approached his wife in the parking lot, an argument ensued, that's when witnesses say he pulled a gun out and shot himself.

Investigators say the man died from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

Ventura Police and Ventura County Sheriff Deputies secured the scene immediately after the shooting took place. ..Source.. by KEYT3.com

CA- Inmate hangs himself at Latorraca

9-3-2009 California:

44-year-old used bed sheets to commit suicide

A 44-year-old inmate at the John Latorraca Correctional Center committed suicide Sunday, hanging himself with bed sheets, according to the Merced County Sheriff's Department.

Correctional officers found William Wolf dead in his cell around 2 p.m. Sunday, according to Deputy Tom MacKenzie, sheriff's spokesman. Wolf had tied the bed sheets to the top rail of a bed bunk, MacKenzie said.

He was awaiting trial at the jail after being arrested by Merced police on Aug. 5 on suspicion of parole violation and a warrant related to allegations of child molestation.

MacKenzie said Wolf gave no indication that he was going to commit suicide.

He was the only inmate occupying the cell. ..Source.. by VICTOR A. PATTON