Inmate who died in custody got $7 in robberies

The Hays County inmate who died in custody while “outsourced” to Limestone County has been identified as Manual Aguado of Lockhart, who was awaiting trial on a second-degree felony charge of robbery.

Aguado was one of two men who came to San Marcos on Jan. 28 of this year and, while brandishing what turned out to be a BB gun, committed two robberies that netted them a total of $7.

Aguado died Nov. 8 in a dayroom at the Limestone County Detention Center, a privately-run facility managed by LaSalle Southwest Corrections. Though toxicology results have not been released, Limestone County Sheriff Dennis Wilson said the death appeared to have been from natural causes, with no foul play suspected.

Police at the time of the robberies said that Aguado and Emilio Juarez, both 20, robbed a Texas State student in a parking lot at the Heights II apartments on River Ridge Parkway after one of them told him to “walk toward me and empty your pockets.” The student, who explained he was “low on funds” handed over his wallet which contained credit cards and two $1 bills.

They did a little better in the second heist, across the street from the first, when they got $5.

Juarez was convicted of robbery in August and is serving a three-year sentence in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Both were originally charged with first-degree aggravated robbery but the charg was later downgraded. Aguado was indicted by the Hays County Grand Jury in February and, at the time of his death, was scheduled for a Nov. 14 pre-trial hearing.

Prior to the robbery, Aguado had been arrested by the SMPD for forgery of a financial instrument, a state jail felony, and by Caldwell County for theft.

Limestone County is one of a handful of Texas counties that Hays County sends inmates to because of overcrowding at the Hays jail, which is currently in the process of expansion. Officials with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office said that inmates are routinely screened for medical conditions before being transferred elsewhere.