Jury awards family $13.5 million after father's overdose death in Riverside jail

Richard Matus Jr. died from a fentanyl-laced prison-made alcohol in his Riverside County jail cell while awaiting trial, prompting his family to sue the county and the Sheriff’s Department. A federal jury concluded the county bore 40% of responsibility, resulting in a $5.4 million award to his son, daughter and mother, part of a total $13.5 million judgment. The verdict was driven by testimony from inmate witnesses who described a deputy dismissing the cellmate’s emergency call.

The case adds to a wave of litigation and a civil-rights investigation into the Sheriff’s Department after a record 19 deaths in the county jail system that year. Officials have faced calls for a civilian oversight board following a grand jury report highlighting systemic problems. The family’s attorney emphasized that timely medical care could have saved Matus’s life.