KBI TAKES OVER PROBE OF PRATT JAIL HANGING

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has been asked to look into the death of
a man who apparently hanged himself in the Pratt County Jail within hours
of his arrest in a drug raid.

Sheriff Vernon Chinn said in a news release that the inmate, Dennis
Goeller, 52, of Pratt, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his cell
at 2:46 p.m. Friday. He was later pronounced dead at Pratt Regional Medical
Center.

Chinn said Goeller was one of seven people arrested Friday on charges that
arose from a three-month undercover investigation involving Pratt police
and the Pratt and Harper county sheriff's departments.

Five of the seven were booked on charges of sale or possession with intent
to sell methamphetamine. Goeller's bond was set at $1 million, while the
other suspects had bonds ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

Search warrants were executed at four homes in Pratt and one in rural Pratt
County. The suspects ranged in age from 23 to 50.

On July 1, a new state law took effect that puts the KBI in charge of
investigating all inmate deaths in Kansas.