Man held in death of cellmate claims rape fear
A fatal incident last week in a Bexar County Jail holding cell involved an inmate who had been arrested following a shooting in which he claimed to be defending himself — just as he did moments after detention officers found his cellmate dead.
With the now deceased inmate, whose record shows a history of substance abuse and anger issues, the combination led to an altercation on Aug. 21 that ended with Mark Anthony Wong being arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Curtis Raymond Smith.
Wong, 52, told investigators that he was afraid Smith might sexually assault him, saying his cellmate appeared mentally ill. He said Smith, 66, had stripped from the waist down and was masturbating while shouting obscenities and sexual threats.
Adding to the incident’s bizarre nature is that it occurred in an area designed to be under continuous surveillance and with another inmate nearby.
The inmates were in the process of being booked into the facility and were wearing the clothes they had on when they were arrested.
At about 11:41 a.m. Saturday, according to Wong’s arrest affidavit, he yelled to a deputy that there was a dead person in holding cell 9, where he and Smith were being kept.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office officials said a deputy was conducting observation checks when he saw Smith face down on the ground. Investigators later found a sock in his mouth and a blue bandana lying near him.
An inmate sitting outside the cell, which is in the booking area of the South Tower, told investigators he heard Wong yelling that he had to strangle Smith “because he tried to rape me.”
The Texas Rangers were called in to investigate the incident as required by the Sandra Bland Act.
Wong told the investigator that he took a sock from the foot of a third inmate — Jeremy Anthony Uriegas, 26, who was with them in
the cell — and put it in Smith’s mouth, according to the affidavit. Wong also grabbed the blue bandana, which was around Smith’s neck, and twisted it tight, the affidavit states.
Moments later, Smith was unresponsive and appeared dead to Wong, according to the affidavit.
A deputy who first entered the cell and attended to Smith on the floor had cut the bandana from his neck. Deputies and medical staff attempted first aid, and Smith was pronounced dead just after noon, officials said.
Deputies also said Wong bit another inmate after being placed in another cell while medical staff tended to Smith. The inmate bitten, who was taken to University Hospital, told investigators he did not know why Wong attacked him, officials said.
Wong was noncompliant, authorities said, adding that a deputy had to use a stun gun on him during the biting incident.
As the investigation into Smith’s death continued, the Texas Ranger asked what Uriegas was doing in the cell while Wong was allegedly strangling Smith. Wong said their cellmate appeared dazed while lying on a bench, the affidavit states.
How Wong got there
On Friday night, hours before the deadly jail encounter, Wong alerted San Antonio police to a shooting at his North Side home, a police report states.
Officers approached the home at 11:15 p.m. and saw several bullet casings, including live rounds, on the ground along with a revolver and a shotgun near the front porch.
One officer tended to a man in the backyard with several gunshot wounds, which police described as “a very serious injury,” on his side.
Another officer handcuffed Wong, and investigators found more spent shotgun shells in the backyard.
Police said the injured man was too incoherent to tell them what occurred.
At some point during the incident, Wong had recorded the injured man on his phone for several minutes, the report states. The man drew two knives and charged at Wong, police said.
Wong shot the man several times, police said, before going upstairs and getting a shotgun.
What occurred after that is redacted in the report.
The report says that Wong then called 911 and spoke with the call taker for about five minutes before going back outside to look for the injured man.
Wong told police that the injured man had an unknown object in his hands and that he came at Wong, the report states. He then met with police who arrived at his house.
Police said they did not find any weapons on the injured man.
Although there were several other weapons throughout the house, none of them appeared to have been used during the incident, investigators said.
Wong was arrested at the scene and taken to Public Safety Headquarters downtown, where he was interviewed by a police detective.
After that, Wong was booked into jail early Saturday. He remains there on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault causing bodily injury and murder with bail set at $1,105,000.
How Smith got here
Smith has been in and out of jail for violating probation stemming from a family violence conviction in September 2019, according to court records.
In that case, a woman told police that Smith had been drinking and arguing with her when he grabbed a pair of scissors and threatened to stab her.
Instead, he threw the scissors and punched her.
Smith pleaded no contest for deferred adjudication of assault causing bodily injury in October 2019 and was sentenced to probation for a year. That probation was later extended for another year after he violated the terms of his community supervision.
In January, a mental health note was left in Smith’s court records. Details related to the note were not publicly available.
On Aug. 4, four violations of his probation were noted in court records. They include not keeping up with a required battering intervention and prevention program, using methamphetamine in May, failure to report to his supervising officer in April and July, and possession of a firearm.
It’s not known whether Smith was under the influence of a substance at the time he died.
Smith had just been booked for the violations on Saturday when he was placed into the cell with Wong and the other inmate.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office did not yet have a cause and manner of death listed for Smith as of Wednesday.
Texas Rangers were called in to investigate the Aug. 21 incident that ended with Mark Anthony Wong, 52, being arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of Curtis Raymond Smith, 66.