Riverside County Child Molester Killed Inside San Quentin: CDCR

CALIFORNIA — A Riverside County child molester who was serving a life sentence at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center was likely killed by his cellmate, prison officials have announced.

Mark Squires, 70, was found unresponsive in his cell at approximately 3:30 p.m. Sept. 17. He was sent to the prison's "triage and treatment area" but was pronounced dead at 4:04 p.m., according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Squires, 70, was most recently received into the state prison system from Riverside County on Jan. 28, 2000, to serve life with the possibility of parole for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 with force or violence and failure to register as a sex offender, CDCR reported.

Squires shared a prison cell with 36-year-old Gustavo Lopez, and the two men were housed together when the former was found. Lopez, also from Riverside County, is suspected of killing Squires, but prison officials did not provide details.

Following Squires' death, CDCR reported that Lopez was placed in restricted housing pending the outcome of an investigation by San Quentin prison officials and the Marin County District Attorney’s Office. The Marin County coroner will determine Squires' official cause of death.

Lopez was most recently received from Riverside County on Jan. 6, 2020, to serve 13 years and four months for kidnapping, second striker; corporal injury resulting in trauma, second striker; and false imprisonment with violence, second striker.