Prisoner Found Hanged in Fullerton City Jail

An unemployed laborer being held on suspicion of armed robbery was found hanged in his Fullerton City Jail cell Monday night in what police Tuesday called an “apparent suicide.”

A joint investigation into the death of Ralph Daniel Sharpe, 37, of Placentia is being conducted by Fullerton police and the Orange County district attorney’s office, Fullerton Police Capt. Donald Bankhead said.

Sharpe’s body was discovered by a jailer about 8:15 p.m. Monday in a one-man cell, hanging from a noose fashioned from jail-issued clothing, Bankhead said.

Paramedics summoned to the jail could not revive Sharpe, officers said.

Sharpe was arrested about 3:15 p.m. Sunday on suspicion of robbing Farr’s Hallmark stationery store at 130 N. Raymond Ave. Shop employees momentarily stopped him as he fled the store, Bankhead said. The workers gave police a description of Sharpe’s car, which was stopped by officers near a freeway on-ramp a short time later.

At the time of his arrest, Bankhead said, Sharpe was a suspect in 10 armed robberies, four of them in Fullerton. He was linked to the robberies of convenience stores and other small shops based on his physical description and his alleged method of operation, Bankhead said.

Shortly after his arrest, Sharpe was booked into the City Jail, which has five cells in a cell block, Bankhead said. He was issued a jump suit. Part of the jump suit was made into a noose from which he was found hanging, Bankhead said.

The jailer on duty at 8:15 p.m. Monday--a civilian Police Department employee whose name was not released--discovered Sharpe hanged, police said. Bankhead said he did not know when Sharpe was last seen alive, but he said department policy requires checks of inmates each hour.

Sharpe left no note, but he had nothing to write with inside the cell, Bankhead said.

Other prisoners occupied the cell block where Sharpe was discovered, but there is no way for prisoners to see into other cells, Bankhead said.