2 More Cook County Detainees Die of Coronavirus While In Custody

CHICAGO, IL — One man was accused of stabbing a woman in the neck, the other was being held on an aggravated DUI and probation violation charges. Both became the fifth and sixth Cook County Jail detainees to die of coronavirus while awaiting trial, sheriff’s officials said.

Juan Salgado Mendoza, 53, died Monday at Stroger Hospital where he had been hospitalized since April 13, after testing positive for COVID-19. The Cook County Medical Examiner attributed the cause of death to coronavirus, complicated by obesity. Mendoza was booked into Cook County Jail on Dec. 2, 2018 after he was denied bail on charges of attempted murder, aggravated domestic violence and aggravated battery with use of a deadly weapon. Arrest reports said he stabbed a woman in the neck during an argument on Nov. 29, 2018 in Cicero.

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Forty-two-year-old Rene Olivo had been hospitalized since March 30 after testing positive for COVID-19. He died Sunday at St. Anthony Hospital. An autopsy is pending. Olivo was booked into Cook County Jail on Oct, 14, 2019. Olivo was being held in lieu of $10,000 since Oct. 14 2019 on charges of aggravated DUI. He was ordered held without bail for violating probation on a 2010 conviction for aggravated DUI. Olivo’s probation violation case was motioned up for a bond hearing on March 25. The bail order was not modified.

As of Wednesday, 217 detainees in custody have tested positive for COVID-19, including 18 who are being treated at local hospitals. Another 231 detainees in custody are in recovery at the jail and 198 have tested negative for coronavirus.

Additionally, 173 correctional officers have tested positive, along with 32 other Cook County Sheriff’s employees. There are 129 employees who previously tested positive who are recovered and have returned to work.

A Cook County correctional officer died Sunday after testing positive of COVID-19, Sheila Rivera, 47, who had recently been assigned to a residential unit, which houses detainees in need of medical care, news reports said.

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