On the Beat in the Bluegrass

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com

Franklin Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland said Tuesday that he will review the Kentucky State Police investigation into the death of a Salvadoran immigrant at the Franklin County Jail to see if he should take further action.

Ana Romero

Ana Romero Rivera, 44, was awaiting deportation at the jail when she died Aug. 22. Family members said that she had been placed in isolation for not eating just before her death.

“It’s a curious matter when anyone dies in custody,” Cleveland told the Herald-Leader.

A preliminary autopsy report said that Romero hanged herself by the neck with a sheet.

“I don’t have the resources to conduct my own investigation,” said Cleveland. “I will ask for the state police files when they complete their investigation.”

Cleveland has the authority to ask for a grand jury review of the case.

Earlier this month, a Bourbon County grand jury indicted the county jailer and his deputy on charges, including some stemming from allegations that staffers had tampered with documents related to the death of an inmate.

Cleveland said he has not yet talked to Kentucky State Police about their investigation.

Trooper Ron Turley, the spokesman for the Kentucky State Police at Frankfort, and Franklin County Jailer Billy Roberts did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

The preliminary autopsy report, released earlier this month by the state medical examiner’s office, says that Romero died of asphyxia by hanging.

Romero’s family and their attorney, Matthew Pippin of Louisville, have called for an investigation of events at the jail before her death.

Mario Aguilar, her brother-in-law, has said that her deportation was imminent, but that for some reason it had been stalled.

Aguilar said Romero had telephoned several times from the jail saying her stomach hurt and she was vomiting. She said the food smelled bad and that something was wrong with it.

According to a dispatch transcript from the Frankfort Police Department, obtained through an open records request, staff at the jail made a 911 call about 11:15 p.m. Aug. 21, requesting an ambulance for Romero because she was not breathing and a CPR unit was assisting. At 11:19 p.m., “jail staff advised she hung herself and was not breathing.”

The medical examiner’s report says the jail took Romero to the hospital late Aug. 21. She was pronounced dead about 2:40 a.m. Aug. 22.

The preliminary autopsy report, which was given to Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod, says the manner of death is still pending because the toxicology report and the circumstances of death are unknown.

Congress has recently demanded that more information be made public about the dozens of deaths in jails and prisons among those awaiting deportation.

The New York Times recently reported that at least 71 people set for deportation died in custody from 2004 to May 2008. Advocates are calling for improved health care and suicide prevention measures for the detainees.

Meanwhile, Romero’s family has decided to seek the opinion of former state medical examiner George Nichols II because they were concerned that officials were not aggressively investigating the case.

Romero, who came to Kentucky from El Salvador three years ago, was arrested Jan. 14 by state police after giving federal immigration officials a false identification card. Aguilar said officers were looking for another suspect when they knocked on Romero’s door.

As a result of the January charges, Romero spent five months in the Shelby County jail and was transferred to the Franklin County Regional Jail in May, where she stayed the last four months. Romero entered a guilty plea Aug. 7. She was required to pay a $100 fine, but she did not receive additional jail time.