SANTA ANA : No Injuries Found in Inmate’s Death

An autopsy disclosed that a 24-year-old Orange County Jail inmate who died after taking medication had no significant signs of trauma, a spokesman from the district attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Michael C. Whitt of Dana Point, who was serving a four-month sentence for petty theft and probation violation, died Sunday after he took medication in the jail and went into convulsions, a Sheriff’s Department official said.

Whitt was pronounced dead at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where paramedics took him after the attack, a little more than 25 minutes after he took the medication, Sheriff’s Department Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

Jay Moseley, a supervising deputy district attorney, said the investigation into Whitt’s death will now focus on the coroner’s toxicological reports, which will not be completed for perhaps weeks.

Whitt pleaded guilty in Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel in April to a misdemeanor charge of petty theft, admitting that he had taken several hundred dollars from his employer through fraudulent business checks.