Gregg County jail employee charged in inmate death
Published: Sat, 01/06/24
Gregg County jail employee charged in inmate death
Sonja Sheree Jones
Longview News Journal
From staff reports
A Gregg County jail employee accused of falsifying medical records has been arrested in connection with a Dec. 12 inmate death.
Sonja Sheree Jones, 54, turned herself in at the county jail Thursday, one day after the Texas Rangers obtained a warrant for her arrest, officials with the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office said in a Friday news release. She was charged with tampering with a government record.
Online court records show that Jones posted a $10,000 bond and was released Thursday.
Officials with the county sheriff’s office said Jones, a medical technician at the jail, “had falsified medical documentation.” The news is the latest development in the Dec. 12 death of an inmate at the jail, 64-year-old John Edward Anderson.
An autopsy revealed that Anderson had medical issues, including heart disease and emphysema, but his cause of death has yet to be determined, officials said.
As officials began to investigate his death, they found “discrepancies in medical documentation,” officials said. Officials reviewed jail security camera footage and medical documents, determining that Jones “had falsified medical documentation.”
The results of the investigation were sent to the Texas Rangers for further review, officials said.