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Inmate’s death ruled homicide

Man serving term for child rape found dead in cell

HOUTZDALE — A man convicted of multiple child rape charges who was found dead in his cell at SCI Houtzdale was homicide, according to a county coroner.

Clearfield County Coroner Kim Shaffer Snyder said Wednesday that the cause of Garrick Bloom’s death was ligature strangulation and the manner of death was homicide.

Bloom, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell at 11:03 p.m. on Aug. 29, according to a press release from the prison.

Efforts were made to revive him, but he was declared dead.

Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers said it is believed another inmate killed Bloom and an investigation by Clearfield state police is ongoing.

Prison officials stated that Bloom, formerly of Shippenville, was serving a long-term sentence that began in October 2019 after he was convicted of raping a child in Clarion County. He had been at SCI Houtzdale since Dec. 5.

Bloom was originally charged with more than 800 counts of various offenses, including rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, rape forcible compulsion and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse from incidents in 2007, according to online court documents.

He pleaded guilty to five counts of rape of a child, for which he received consecutive state prison sentences of 96 to 192 months, totaling 40 to 80 years.

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