Inmate Murdered Cellmate So He Wouldn’t Be Sent Back To Mexico
Inmate Murdered Cellmate So He Wouldn’t Be Sent Back To Mexico
Posted on November 27, 2013
An Arizona prison inmate said he choked his cellmate to death, stomped his head and then bit him in the groin so he could remain in prison, according to a Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Tim Gaffney said the sheriff’s office was asking that a first-degree murder charge to be filed against Roberto Venegas Fernandez, 43, who reportedly told homicide detectives the he liked prison and was afraid of being released so he killed Michael Patrick McNaughton, 55, Saturday morning, Gaffney said.
Fernandez said he stomped and bit the victim to ensure he would get first-degree murder, Gaffney said.
Investigators originally investigated the death as the result of a fight between the men, who were housed together in the Corrections Corporation of America, a privately run prison in Florence contracted by the U.S. Marshals Service, Gaffney said.
But Fernandez later told detectives that he choked McNaughton while he was sitting on his bunk.
PCSO Sheriff Paul Babeu said Fernandez is from Mexico and was convicted for committing a sex crime in the U.S. He was approaching his release from prison and allegedly killed McNaughton so he wouldn’t be sent back to Mexico, Babeu said.
