Thread by @JusticeRgv

🚨 A woman facing charges from 2019 for prescription pills died at the Edinburg Regional Hospital on Saturday… after staff at the Hidalgo County Jail refused to get her medical help.

#Justice4Melissa #JusticeRGV #RioGrandeValley #HidalgoCounty

Melissa De La Cruz of Corpus Christi was in jail for failing to show up to a rescheduled arraignment last year in the 389th District Court of Hidalgo County. She showed up to the original date, but it was moved to the following week.

She had been caught with anxiety medication and weight loss pills in 2019.

Melissa was booked in the County Jail on March 10, 2023 after Sheriff’s deputies went to pick her up at her home in Corpus Christi.

According to her family she had been in pain for about a week before she was finally taken to the Edinburg Regional Hospital on April 13, 2023, the same day she had court and agreed to plead guilty to a delivery of a controlled substance charge.

However, her family denies they were to sell. It seems she just wanted to get out of jail to get medical care.

The details of who called the ambulance are still not clear. She accepted a plea deal for probation while in chronic pain, probably to b able to get out of jail, but she was not able to sign the paperwork, although records show that the court accepted the plea without her sig.

Jail records available online show she was released by order of the court because two of the three charges were dismissed and she got probation on the third. Except, it shows she was booked out on April 14, 2023 while Melissa was in the hospital.

According to her sister, the family didn’t even know Melissa was going to be released. They were notified by her court-appointed attorney that she was taken to the hospital. We have not received a response from the attorney, but it seems staff at the courthouse or

the attorney herself may have noticed the medical emergency that the county jail ignored. However, it was too late to save her life.

Melissa De La Cruz died on April 22, 2023 of sepsis caused by a ruptured gallbladder.

It could have been prevented if she had received medical care on time. She leaves behind four children, including two little girls.

Since she didn’t die while in custody, the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office can pretend nothing happened.

NO CONSEQUENCES

When is someone going to be held accountable for what is going on in the Hidalgo County Detention Center? Chief Steve Herrera is in charge of the county jail. When is he going to be held accountable for everything going on in the county jail.

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