48-Year-Old Inmate Pronounced Dead At Riverside County Jail

RIVERSIDE, CA — A man with a history of apparent drug trouble and run-ins with law enforcement was pronounced dead at a Riverside County jail Thursday, and officials say foul play is not suspected.

Damon Bietz, 48, was found unresponsive in the intake area of Riverside's Robert Presley Detention Center. Deputies and jail medical personnel "immediately administered life-saving measures," and paramedics also tried to resuscitate the Riverside man, but he "was ultimately pronounced deceased," according to the sheriff's department.

"There are no signs of foul play, and the investigation is ongoing," the sheriff's department reported.

Bietz was jailed after violating his parole and was scheduled to be arraigned in November on a misdemeanor trespassing charge and misdemeanor drug-related offenses, Riverside County court records show. Bietz had a history of misdemeanor drug convictions. In 2014, he was found guilty of one felony count of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, the records show.

The circumstances surrounding Bietz's death are being investigated by the Corrections Central Investigations Bureau within the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, according to the agency.