The Kane County Sheriff’s Office determined Friday that a 53-year-old, Tennessee inmate who collapsed Wednesday at the Kane County Adult Justice Center died of a heart attack.

The Coroner’s Office performed an autopsy Friday on Thomas Roberts and said the preliminary cause of death was “Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Atherosclerosis.” Kane County Sheriff’s Office officials initially had described the death as a medical-related incident.

Roberts (CREDIT: Kane County Sheriff’s Office)

According to the initial Kane County Sheriff’s Office news release, correctional officers and jail medical staff responded at around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 27, 2017) to a medical emergency in the day room of the medical housing unit, where they found Roberts had collapsed and was unresponsive.

Roberts was in the day room with several other inmates at the time of the event.

Officers and medical staff began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including deploying an automated external defibrillator, until the arrival of a Fox River & Countryside Fire and Rescue emergency medical service unit.

Roberts, of Clarksville, TN, was pronounced deceased at 8:11 p.m. Wednesday at the Kane County Adult Justice Center.

The Sheriff’s Office news release said Roberts recently had been in the medical unit after he complained of chest pain.

“Based on the initial investigation this appears to be a medical related event,” Kane County Sheriff’s Office Director of Administration Patrick Gengler said in the news release.

Roberts was booked in on Feb. 22, 2017, and charged with criminal sexual assault of a victim under the age of 18, and was being held on $500,000 bond.

Per Illinois state statute, the Illinois State Police have been called in to conduct the investigation into the incident.

SOURCE: Kane County Sheriff’s Office news release