Inmate charged in 1997 killing of alleged child molester

Nearly 17 years after a suspected child molester was killed in a holding cell at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, a man serving a life sentence for murder was charged Thursday in that slaying.

Jaime Vidales, 42, who has spent nearly 20 years in prison for murder and robbery, has been charged with beating and fatally strangling Miguel Sanchez in July 1997 as they were held with dozens of other inmates in a large holding cell.

At the time, Vidales was awaiting trial on murder and robbery charges while Sanchez was being held on sexual assault charges.

Sanchez was found by a sheriff’s deputy lying on a bunk bed in a dorm room occupied by inmates.

Prosecutors said Vidales was helped by another inmate during the attack, but that man was subsequently killed in Los Angeles County Jail, said Greg Risling, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Vidales has served much of his term in the Special Housing Unit of Pelican Bay prison, where some of the most high-risk inmates are held.

At the time of Sanchez’s slaying, investigators suspected that inmate “trusties” -- who are given special duties or privileges by prison officials for good behavior -- were given secret information related to his arrest that prompted the deadly July 11, 1997 attack. The leak of the information led to a wide-ranging probe into several deputies who worked at the Men’s Central Jail.

According to a former inmate who spoke to The Times in 1998, trusties had the inmates’ booking cards as they were shuffled into the holding module that night. At the time, the area had more than 300 inmates arrested for various offenses awaiting transfer. The witness told The Times several men associated with a street gang beat Sanchez.

richard.winton@latimes.com

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