Jail Ward

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide detectives this week continued to investigate the death of a 41-year-old man in officers' custody at County-USC Medical Center. John Bernard Wiley Jr. of Mar Vista died at 8:46 p.m. Friday after a struggle with officers in the hospital's jail ward, Deputy Gabe Ramirez said. Deputies arrested Wiley at 4:38 p.m. Friday after responding to a report of a domestic dispute in the 12200 block of Pacific Avenue.

The embattled wife of Oceanside's police chief has been taken into custody following a suicide attempt last month after she was convicted of shooting at police during a standoff. Brinda Sue McCoy, 49, was released from Los Alamitos Medical Center late Thursday after two weeks of treatment and was arrested and taken by ambulance to the jail ward at Western Medical Center in Anaheim. Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said she was in critical condition when transported but that her condition is improving.

Steven Blemker was transferred Sunday to UC Irvine Medical Center's jail ward from Anaheim's Martin Luther Hospital Medical Center, where he was shot twice by a physical therapist after he reportedly tried to rape her. Martin Luther King spokeswoman Betty Bartley said Blemker, 30, had been under police guard at the Anaheim hospital since Friday, when police said he assaulted the therapist.

A paroled child molester whose placement in a Mead Valley halfway house in 2005 ignited months of protests by local residents died Friday morning, most likely from brain cancer, while in a Riverside County hospital jail ward, authorities said. David Allyn Dokich, 54, died at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, said Riverside County sheriff's spokesman Jerry Franchville.

A 32-year-old woman stabbed her boyfriend in the chest Friday, but he was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery, police said. Jesus Gomez, 26, of Buena Park and his girlfriend, Debra Green, were at the El Baron Rojo bar on Beach Boulevard in Buena Park when they began arguing about money, Police Officer Rich McMillen said. Gomez hit Green, McMillen said, and then Green stabbed him once in the chest.

A 25-year-old Anaheim man was being held in a hospital jail ward Monday on suspicion of attempted murder after police said he shot and critically wounded his wife, then turned the gun on himself after a quarrel at their home. Maria Miramontes, 33, was listed in critical condition Monday at UCI Medical Center in Orange, where she was taken after the incident at 7:48 p.m. Sunday at the couple's apartment in the 1200 block of Dresden Street.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was charged Tuesday with slapping two patients in separate incidents in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center. Donald K. Stegmeier, 42, of Huntington Beach, who joined the Sheriff's Department 26 months ago, was relieved of duties pending resolution of his case. He is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 18 in Municipal Court.

A 60-year-old Orange County Jail inmate being held on drug charges died after suffering a seizure Thursday morning at UCI Medical Center, officials said. The man's name was not being released until family members could be notified, but he was identified as a transient from Santa Ana by Lt. Richard Olson of the Sheriff's Department. The man had turned himself into the jail on Dec.

Concerned about overcrowding and its public image, the UCI Medical Center in Orange will not renew its $2.5-million county contract for operating a jail ward, hospital officials said Sunday.

A man arrested over the weekend on suspicion of child endangerment and being under the influence of drugs died Monday afternoon in a jail ward at the Western Medical Center-Anaheim, police said. Jorge Luis Nunez, 25, was arrested about midnight Saturday after the Anaheim Police Department received reports of a domestic disturbance. Officers arrested Nunez, who had two children--a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old--in his apartment, authorities said.

How hard was it for Francisco Puemas to escape from the 77th Division police station earlier this month? He took a penny, sharpened it and chipped at a holding cell wall, digging a hole and fleeing less than an hour after entering the cell. On Monday, Los Angeles Police Department officials outlined how profoundly broken the police station's detention system is.

With Robert Blake in custody in the county jail's hospital ward, Los Angeles police detectives searched the actor's Hidden Hills home and two other places Friday for additional evidence to prove that he killed his wife. Blake's lawyer said authorities also sought to bolster their case by offering a deal to the actor's bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, who, like Blake, was arrested Thursday. But attorney Harland W. Braun said no deal was struck. Police denied that any deal had been offered.

Shortly after his release from a Whittier hospital Friday, a Pico Rivera man was arrested for allegedly igniting a charcoal grill inside his house that killed five of his six children while they slept. Handcuffed and wearing a light blue hospital gown, Adair Garcia was wheeled out of Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital and released to sheriff's homicide investigators.

A man arrested over the weekend on suspicion of child endangerment and being under the influence of drugs died Monday afternoon in a jail ward at the Western Medical Center-Anaheim, police said. Jorge Luis Nunez, 25, was arrested about midnight Saturday after the Anaheim Police Department received reports of a domestic disturbance. Officers arrested Nunez, who had two children--a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old--in his apartment, authorities said.

A suspected drunk driver slammed into an OCTA bus Wednesday night in Anaheim and was arrested, police said. Felizardo Caballero of San Bernardino suffered moderate injuries and remains in the jail ward at UCI Medical Center in Orange. He faces charges of felony drunk driving, Police Sgt. Joe Vargas said. His passenger is in critical condition at the same hospital with severe head injuries. There were no other serious injuries. The accident occurred at 10:20 p.m.

In an effort to improve medical and psychiatric care in the Los Angeles County jail system, Sheriff Sherman Block announced Wednesday that he will shut down the dilapidated hospital wards in the Men's Central Jail and move hundreds of ill inmates into the new Twin Towers facility.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday opened a preliminary investigation into the case of a man who died while in the custody of Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. John Bernard Wiley Jr. died in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center on March 4. Sheriff's officials said law enforcement officers were trying to restrain Wiley when he stopped breathing.

The driver of a car accused of causing a five-vehicle accident Sunday that killed a pedestrian was possibly high on PCP and had a loaded shotgun in his trunk, a detective said Monday. Ali Tamadon, 21, of Pacoima, was at County-USC Medical Center's jail ward after being arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office said Friday that an investigation into the December, 1993, death of a man in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center has concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that either Sheriff's Department or Los Angeles Police Department officers were responsible.