Orange deputy censured for not investigating fatal assault

An Orange County deputy who did not realize a man who later died had been assaulted was disciplined by the Sheriff ’s Office on Wednesday.

Deputy Sergio Uribe received a written reprimand and will have to attend remedial training on preliminary investigations.

He responded to a fight at an auto-repair shop in the 5600 block of South Orange Blossom Trail on Nov. 24, 2015, after a 911 caller said he wanted help for his friend who was suffering from “fractures.”

Uribe wrote in a report that when he got there, he saw several people standing near the entrance and Geronimo DeJesus started yelling homophobic slurs at him.

Uribe walked to the back of the business, where he found Porfirio Castillo Martinez, 55, lying on a bed.

Martinez was barely conscious and could not stand on his own. He had swelling on his face and was drunk, Uribe wrote.

Martinez would not say what happened to him and was taken to the hospital, according to Uribe.

DeJesus was arrested after a deputy said he tried to punch him.

The scene was cleared without detectives investigating the assault.

Martinez died in February 2016, and the medical examiner determined in mid-June that the cause of death was “complications of blunt head trauma along with acute and chronic ethanol abuse” and ruled a homicide.

It was only then — seven months after the incident — that deputies started investigating the case as a homicide, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.

Witnesses said they saw DeJesus attack Martinez with a shovel. A crime-scene investigator also found blood in the bed where Martinez was lying.

DeJesus is charged with second-degree murder and is awaiting trial. He is being held without bond at the Orange County Jail.