Crime & Safety
Inmate Sentenced Out Of Riverside County Implicated In Deadly Prison Attack
He is one of five inmates being investigated in the attack that left 31-year-old Rene B. Lopez dead.
CRESCENT CITY, CA — An inmate sentenced out of Riverside County for second-degree murder is among five state prisoners under investigation in connection with the fatal stabbing of an incarcerated man at Pelican Bay State Prison, state correctional officials announced last week.
Joseph W. Morales, 40, who was convicted in 2019 and later sentenced in Riverside County to life with the possibility of parole, allegedly worked alongside four other inmates to carry out the Sept. 17 attack that left 31-year-old Rene B. Lopez dead.
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According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, staff responded to a housing unit around 6 p.m. after finding Lopez unresponsive. Paramedics pronounced Lopez dead at the prison clinic less than an hour later at 6:53 p.m. No staff members were injured during the incident.
A review of the prison’s video surveillance system revealed that Morales and another inmate, Richard Garcia, 52, worked together to attack Lopez, officials said. Surveillance footage also captured the pair handing two improvised weapons to inmate Estevan Saucedo, 30, who allegedly tossed them into a trash can where staff later recovered them.
Further review of the footage implicated two additional inmates, Jose D. Rodriguez, 28, and Freddie G. Sanchez, 35, in the deadly assault.
Morales was most recently admitted to the state prison system from Riverside County on April 30, 2019, following a conviction for second-degree murder with an enhancement for personal use of a dangerous weapon, along with multiple assault offenses. While in custody, Morales received additional time out of Riverside County for possessing and manufacturing a deadly weapon as an inmate, vehicle theft, and possession of controlled substances in jail.
The victim, Lopez, had been serving a 29-year sentence from Los Angeles County since 2013 for assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
All five suspects have been moved to restricted housing while the prison’s Investigative Services Unit and the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office conduct a homicide investigation. Authorities have also notified the Office of the Inspector General and temporarily limited movement in Pelican Bay State Prison's Housing Unit A.
Located in Crescent City near the Oregon border, the prison houses more than 2,100 minimum-, medium-, and maximum-security inmates.
