Man in ICE custody in McHenry County dies at west suburban hospital

WINFIELD, Ill. - A man in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody died Tuesday at a hospital in west suburban Winfield.

Roberto Rodriguez-Espinoza, 37, was pronounced dead at 9:35 p.m. by staff at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, according to a statement from ICE. Doctors identified a subdural hematoma as his preliminary cause of death.

DuPage County Coroner Dr. Richard Jorgensen said his office conducted an autopsy Wednesday, but investigators have not yet reached a conclusion about his cause of death. The death remains under investigation.

Rodriguez-Espinoza was arrested in Chicago Sept. 3 and brought to the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in federal custody. He allegedly “admitted to daily consumption of alcohol” during an intake interview.

ICE officials said Rodriguez-Espinoza is a “documented Latin Kings gang member” with a 2016 conviction for burglary and a 2008 theft conviction.

Staff at the jail saw Rodriguez-Espinoza “acting confused” on Sept. 7 and transferred him to Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital in Woodstock for evaluation, ICE said. He was transferred to Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital the next day, where he was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage.

He was transferred to Central DuPage for a neurosurgery consultation and became unresponsive during a neurological exam, ICE said.

Rodriguez-Espinoza is “the eighth individual to pass away in ICE custody in fiscal year 2019,” the agency said.

“ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases,” the agency wrote in the statement.