Sheriff's officials launch investigation into string of Sonoma County inmate deaths

Sonoma County Sheriff’s officials said Tuesday they are reviewing jail policies and medical procedures in the wake of four inmate deaths in the span of a month.

“These recent deaths in such a short amount of time are very unfortunate and outside of the norm,” Sgt. Cecile Focha, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office, said Tuesday in a news release. “We pride ourselves in delivering detention services in a professional, firm, fair and compassionate manner.”

Focha wrote that the Sheriff’s Office is “researching a panel that will consist of medical, mental health, and detention professionals” to help with the review. Early indications, she stated, “show that no medical care was denied” to the inmates nor any policies or laws violated.

Sheriff’s officials said there is nothing to connect the deaths of Rhonda Jean Everson, 50, Mikol Stewart, 36, and Diego Armando De Paz, 31.

Everson died Sunday for as-yet unknown reasons. Since her booking Friday night, she had been in a special unit for inmates going through withdrawal because of a history of substance abuse, sheriff’s officials said.

Stewart died Sept. 28 in a cell at the main jail. He appears to have hung himself, officials said.

De Paz was found unresponsive in his bed at the main jail on Oct. 8. The cause of his death is still under investigation, officials said.

At the same time, a local family is seeking answers in the death of a fourth inmate, Charles Weathers Jr., 35, who they say died at Sutter Medical Center on Sept. 23. That was a day after he suffered a medical emergency at the North County Detention Facility, said his mother, Carol Weathers of Santa Rosa.

Weathers said her son suffered from ulcers and that a complication related to the ulcers caused his medical emergency. He was unresponsive by the time he got to the hospital Sept. 22 and he never woke up, she said.

Now her family wants to know what led to the medical emergency and if anything could have been done at the jail to prevent it.

“I’m a mother who wants answers, who wants closure,” she said.

Assistant Sheriff Randall Walker said Weathers was at the facility from Aug. 2 to Sept. 22, the day he was taken to the hospital. But he couldn’t discuss what happened because of privacy concerns, he said.

An investigation into Weathers’ death is also ongoing, he said.

Jail policy calls for three separate investigations into each of the cases involving inmates who died at the jail, Walker said. That includes a criminal investigation to ensure there was no foul play, an administrative investigation by the sheriff’s internal affairs department to see if policies were properly followed and an evaluation by an outside agency of the jail’s contracted mental health or medical provider’s handling of the inmate.

If the investigations reveal any connections between the deaths, the jail could launch another review into the deaths as a whole, Walker said.

“The investigations will dictate whether we need to do more,” he said. The investigations could take weeks, possibly months to complete.

Walker described the inquiries into the recent deaths as a priority. He could not recall a time in recent jail history when so many people had died in so short a space of time.

“Any death is tragic. Everyone is loved and cared for by somebody,” he said. “We do the best we can to prevent any deaths. I’m anxious to see the results of the investigations and see what, if anything, we can do better.”

Staff Writer Derek Moore contributed to this report. ?You can reach Staff Writer Jamie Hansen at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jamiehansen.