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Alachua County Sheriff's Office: Inmate dies in custody while awaiting trial

The Alachua County Sheriff's Office currently manages the county jail operations. (File photo/Jessica Giles/WUFTNews)
The Alachua County Sheriff's Office currently manages the county jail operations. (File photo/Jessica Giles/WUFTNews)

The sheriff's office identified the inmate as Chintan Shah, 40.

An inmate died in custody Thursday in the Alachua County Jail, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said.

Chintan Shah, 40, was pronounced dead at 7:42 Thursday morning, according to a sheriff's office Facebook post.

According to the post, detention officers were walking through the jail Thursday morning conducting a routine cell inspection. That's when they found Shah unresponsive in his cell, where he was housed alone.

Shortly after they found him, jail staff contacted the combined communications center at 7:23 a.m. to request emergency medical services. Meanwhile, detention officers issued a Code Blue and used an AED to deliver CPR.

Within eight minutes, emergency medical personnel arrived at the jail, but Shah was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later.

Shah was in jail facing several counts of possession and distribution of child pornography. Court and arrest records note he was charged with using artificial intelligence to create pornography of children and adults. The arrest report also said Shah had possession of "numerous files of conventional child sex abuse material."

July 30, Judge James Colaw denied Shah bond, deeming him a flight risk and citing HB 445 that went into effect July 1, which states the crimes Shah was charged with qualify for pretrial detention.

In the wake of Shah's death, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division went to the jail to investigate — standard procedure, the sheriff's office said. Their office of professional standards will also conduct an internal investigation.

Contact WUFT News by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org

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