August 20, 2002                                                                                  Contact: Michael Winder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                             (605) 773-3478

(Pierre)- A preliminary autopsy shows an inmate at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls died of heart failure.

Gerald Thies, age 69, was found in his cell at approximately noon Sunday. Penitentiary medical staff efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Thies was serving a 25 year sentence for criminal pedophilia out of Pennington County.

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