Sex convict dies in jail

Cause unknown; state awaits results of autopsy of Victoria man

September 18, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.

BY LOUISE POPPLEWELL - VICTORIA ADVOCATE

HUNTSVILLE - State prison officials are awaiting the results of an autopsy to rule in the death of a Victoria man who was found dead in his Huntsville prison cell on Aug. 13.

Dionicio Robles Jr., 54, was pronounced dead shortly before 5:30 a.m. He was unresponsive when he was found minutes earlier in the cell at the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

She said emergency medics were unable to revive him.

Robles, who pleaded guilty in May to seven counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of online solicitation of a minor, was sentenced June 14 by district Judge Stephen Williams in Victoria.

He received 10 years for each count of child pornography possession and 20 years for each count of online solicitation with the sentences to run concurrently, according to an earlier Advocate report.

Robles was arrested in March 2006 by an officer of the attorney general's division of cyber crimes unit after a four-month investigation.

He died less that a month after he arrived at the Huntsville unit.

Results of the autopsy, conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, have not been received, Lyons said Monday.

Louise Popplewell is a reporter for the Victoria Advocate.