Death of San Quentin inmate from Placer County investigated as a homicide, officials say
The death of a Placer County man serving a 10-year sentence at San Quentin State Prison for failing to register as a sex offender is being investigated as a homicide, officials said.
About about 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, a correctional officer conducting an institution population count found John Sullivan was found unresponsive in his prison cell, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Authorities performed life-saving measures that were unsuccessful and Sullivan, 66, was pronounced dead at 1:18 a.m. by outside medical personnel, prison officials said.
Sullivan’s Placer County conviction for failure to register as a sex offender was considered a second strike under the state’s “Three Strikes” law, according to the news release. He was admitted to prison custody on March 3, 2016.
Investigators have identified Sammeon Waller as a suspect in Sullivan’s death, prison officials said. Waller is serving a seven-year for a Los Angeles County conviction for first-degree burglary and injury to a dependent adult causing great bodily injury.
Waller, 28, broke into into his grandfather’s Pomona home and severely beat the elderly man in June 2017, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Waller’s grandfather suffered significant injuries in the attack. Waller was sentenced in December 2017 and admitted to prison custody later that month.
Prison officials said Waller has been moved to be housed in the Administrative Segregation Unit pending the homicide investigation. San Quentin’s Investigative Services Unit was investigating Sullivan’s death, and the Office of the Inspector General has been notified.
The prison currently houses 2,518 inmates and employs nearly 1,700 people, according to Wednesday’s news release. San Quentin houses general population inmates and condemned inmates, as well as a minimum-security work crew unit.
