SALEM — A 40-year-old Peabody man who had just learned that he was wanted on a Texas warrant was found hanging in a holding cell yesterday afternoon at Salem District Court, dead from an apparent suicide, officials said.
Harley L. Sawyer, 40, was pronounced dead at Salem Hospital at 2:36 p.m., said Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.
State police assigned to Blodgett's office, as well as Salem police and officials of the Trial Court were investigating, but no foul play is suspected, O'Connell said.
Investigators believe Sawyer used his own pants to hang himself in the holding cell.
Sawyer had been brought to Salem District Court yesterday to answer to a larceny charge stemming from the theft of $1,283 from the Gibbs gas station in downtown Danvers, where he briefly worked in 2006.
A police report said Sawyer was stealing cash by writing in sale amounts for less than the actual gas sold and pocketing the difference — amounts that did not match the amounts recorded by gas pumps.
Sawyer, who had been in default in the case for three years, pleaded guilty yesterday and was sentenced to a year's probation and was ordered to pay restitution.
He was expecting to be released when, during a routine warrant check, court officers learned that Sawyer was wanted in Comal County, Texas.
Sawyer had been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was on eight years of probation, which he had allegedly violated.
Sawyer's lawyer in the Danvers case said yesterday that he had discussed his options and whether he wanted to waive rendition to Texas or stay in jail and fight his return.
"I'll just go to Texas," defense lawyer John Morris said Sawyer told him.
Morris said Sawyer, who was supporting two children, was concerned about "losing everything," including his job as a finish carpenter and his home, but appeared resigned to returning to Texas.
Sawyer told Morris to call his mother and tell her what was happening. Morris said he would do that and then return to go over paperwork after lunch.
Morris learned of the suicide when he got back to the courthouse, he said.
Sawyer had a lengthy criminal record, including at least 60 entries for charges such as breaking and entering, larceny, and receiving stolen property, according to a Danvers police report in the 2006 incident.
Sawyer had been in default in the Danvers case for three years when he was arrested last September. He again defaulted in November but was subsequently arrested by Woburn police in an unrelated receiving stolen property case.
Court records show that Sawyer was born in Somerville and had lived in various locations, including Danvers.
He had also lived for a time in New Braunfels, Texas, with a now-former girlfriend.
The suicide is the second major incident at the courthouse in the past month.
On Dec. 6, a level 3 sex offender who had been mistakenly delivered by the Sheriff's Department to the Salem District Court instead of the Superior Court managed to run out a back door of the courthouse, touching off an hourlong manhunt through the downtown area.
That suspect, Karl Hackney, has been indicted on an escape charge. Security at the rear door to the courthouse has also been enhanced.
Trial Court spokeswoman Joan Kenney could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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