AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – Officials say a man being held on a shoplifting charge has died in a Georgia jail.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office says 59-year-old James Richard Wheeler of Augusta was found unresponsive in a cell Tuesday night.
A statement from the agency says deputies and medical workers began resuscitation efforts but they couldn’t revive the man. He was pronounced dead about an hour later.
A state crime lab will perform an autopsy, but the sheriff’s statement says the death is believed to be linked to a prior medical condition.