MADRAS, Ore. — Three Jefferson County sheriff’s employees were indicted Wednesday on criminally negligent homicide charges in connection with the death last year of a 59-year-old Portland man jailed on drug crimes.
Michael Christopher Durkan, 53, Cory Lucinda Skidgel, 42, and Anthony Joseph Hansen, 33, were each charged with a single count of the felony, which carries up to five years in prison.
They are accused in the death of James Eugene Wippel. Wippel died April 26 while in custody at the county lockup in Madras.
The indictment was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court early Thursday. The jail employees will be arraigned at 2 p.m. on April 19.
Wippel had been arrested by Warm Springs police on accusations of heroin possession and delivery and methamphetamine possession. Wippel was taken to the Jefferson County Jail without incident, Sheriff Jim Adkins said at the time.
Two days later, Wippel said he wasn’t feeling well and was seen by the nursing staff, according to Adkins’ initial statement. An ambulance was called at some point, but the man died before leaving the jail.
Adkins at the time did not say what steps his staff took to address Wippel’s medical problems or how long they waited to call for an ambulance.
Durkan and Skidgel are deputies; Hansen is a corporal. Durkan, reached by phone, declined to comment. Skidgel and Hansen could not be reached.
