2 Sheriff Deputies Charged With Records Coverup In Santa Rita Suicide

DUBLIN, CA — Two Alameda County sheriff's deputies have been accused of falsifying records in connection with a suicide at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in 2021.

Felony charges were filed against Deputy Sheri Baughman, 49, and Deputy Amanda Bracamontes, 30, the Alameda County District Attorney's office said in a statement Friday, May 26.

The charges stem from an incident April 3, 2021, when Vinetta Martin was found to have hung herself with a bedsheet in her cell, according to the Public Accountability Unit of the prosecutor's office.

Martin had been deemed a "special management inmate" after telling jail staff she planned to take her life. Deputies were supposed to conduct direct visual checks every 30 minutes, according to the district attorney's office.

Baughman and Bracamontes are accused of doctoring the logbooks to make it appear that they had performed the checks.

Surveillance video showed they skipped some checks, sometimes for as long as an hour and 47 minutes, investigators said.

Martin, 32, had been held since July 2020 when she was booked by Oakland police for an alleged assault with a deadly weapon. She was found incompetent to stand trial and was awaiting transfer to a psychiatric hospital in Napa.

Baughman is a 20-year veteran of the sheriff's office and Bracamontes has served for four years, the prosecutor's office said.

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