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Kenneth Eugene McLaughlin, 44, previously of 164 West Jamestown Road, Hempfield Township, was found unresponsive in his cell during staff rounds that morning, Acting Superintendent William Nicklow of the State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill says.
Emergency personnel was notified and CPR was administered until Penn State Life Lion EMS arrived, but ultimately McLaughlin was pronounced deceased at 6:51 a.m.
Pennsylvania State Police were notified and will conduct an investigation, per state policy, but the official cause of death will be determined by the Cumberland County Coroner’s Office.
McLaughlin was serving an 8-and-a-half to 20-year sentence for Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse by Forcible Compulsion, prison authorities say. The charge was for repeatedly raping a girl from the time she was 4 years old until she was 9 years old, according to multiple outlets. He was found guilty in Mercer County in 2016, court records show. He was just under 6 years into his sentence at the time of his death and the girl he abused would now be 22.
He had previously served 2 months in prison in 1997 for burglary, according to court documents.
He had been at SCI Camp Hill since August 27, 2020, according to Nicklow.
Why he was moved from Mercer County is not immediately clear.
McLaughlin's next-of-kin has been notified, according to prison authorities.
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