Scandalized Sheriff Dies of Heart Attack

MONTAGUE, Texas (AP) _ A preliminary autopsy report shows that a former North Texas sheriff headed to federal prison for a sex crime died of natural causes.

Authorities suspected that former Montague County Sheriff Bill Keating died of a heart attack after he collapsed last week after doing yard work. Keating, 62, was a heavy smoker.

Justice of the Peace Rick Lewis said the Dallas County medical examiner’s preliminary autopsy report says the manner of death was natural causes, the Wichita Falls Times Record News reported.

Keating was to be sentenced in June and faced up to 10 years in federal prison for having sex with a woman under threat of arrest. But because he died before sentencing, the conviction will be dismissed.

His state charges of having sex with female jail inmates also will be dropped.

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