Inmate identified in apparent jail suicide

PERKINS TWP. — The Erie County Sheriff's Office has identified the inmate who died in an apparent suicide on Wednesday as Ali Ak.Ak, 32, had been in custody at the Erie County jail less than a day when corrections officers found him hanging from a bed sheet in a medical isolation cell, according to Sheriff Paul Sigsworth. He had been booked on two felony charges of receiving stolen property around 2:30 p.m. the previous day.Police records indicate that Ak's brief stay at the local jail reflects an investigation that began this week in Maryland and ended in an arrest in Erie County.Ak was a resident of Cambridge, Maryland, according to the address he gave the sheriff's office when booked at the jail. Sigsworth further identified him as a Turkish citizen who was living legally in the U.S.Ali AkAk's apparent path to the jail began on Monday, when officers with the Cambridge Police Department arrived at a Maryland residence shortly after 2 a.m., according to a police report through that agency. At the residence, according to the report, they found a man bound by his wrists and ankles. The man was reportedly naked save a Santa hat.That man told them that Ak was responsible for the handcuffs and ties, according to the police report. He described to police an evening that had started with "fooling around" and quickly escalated into threats at knifepoint and and the theft of his vehicle and belongings.He told police that he met Ak earlier that day, according to the report. He said he had arranged to purchase a DVR from Ak for $20. At Ak's suggestion that they "hang out", he told police, he later picked Ak up from another address in the area and brought him to the residence.The two were watching a movie when, according to the account the man gave police, Ak made a move on him. He said Ak left the room at the some point and returned with handcuffs. When the man told him that he did not want to be restrained, according to the report, Ak pulled out a switch-blade knife and made a threat:"Don't make this difficult," Ak reportedly said.Ak forced the man to open a safe, turn over his wallet and tell him the PIN for his debit cards, according to the report. At one point, apparently frustrated because he could not find the wallet, Ak reportedly threatened to cut the man.Before leaving in the man's vehicle, a 2008 Mazda CX-7, he pocketed cash, a 10-karat gold ring, a cellphone and several credit and debit cards, according to the report. The man told police that Ak took a picture of him before taking off, warning him that he would post the photo to Facebook if the man contacted police.Local authorities came onto Ak's trail the following day, when he drove the stolen Mazda through an Ohio Turnpike toll booth at the U.S. 250 exit, according to an Erie County Sheriff's Office report. About the same time that an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper caught up with Ak in relation to that offense, according to the report, he learned that the vehicle Ak was driving had been reported stolen in Maryland.After pulling over in the parking lot of a Quality Inn, according to the local report, Ak immediately exited the vehicle and put both hands in the air.Highway Patrol asked the Sheriff's Office to handle the theft offense, according to the local report. Deputies booked him on receiving stolen property charges around 2:30 p.m., following an interview at the Erie County Sheriff's Office.Court records in Dorchester County, Maryland, indicate that Ak had a lengthy history of misdemeanor offenses that stretch back at least a decade. Nearly all of these were resolved with acquittals or prosecutors dropping charges, according to court records.Original charges against Ak in those cases included misdemeanor burglary, trespassing and assault, among others. His record in Dorchester County includes at least one felony burglary charge in 2006, according to court records. That charge, too, was later dropped.A representative of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said that Ak was never under that department's custody.Cambridge police said that Ak would have been facing additional felony charges in Maryland. These would have included: armed robbery, reckless endangerment and two charges each of assault and theft.At the local jail, Sigsworth said, Ak was placed in a medical isolation cell, positioned directly across from a nurse's station, due to issues related to a drug withdrawal. Sigsworth said a nurse observed him in his bunk about a half an hour before corrections officers, delivering lunch just before noon, saw that he had apparently hung himself.While an autopsy is anticipated, Sigsworth told the Sandusky Register on Wednesday that Ak's death appeared to be a "very tragic suicide.""We're still trying to determine what may have led to this," he said. "That's part of an ongoing investigation."More from the Erie County Sheriff's OfficeFile Photo, Erie County Jail