More than six years after the death of an inmate in the Beltrami County jail, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has charged the nursing director of the Bemidji jail’s former health care provider with manslaughter.

According to a Friday announcement from Ellison’s office, Michelle Skroch, of Sartell, was criminally charged in Beltrami County District Court with one count of second-degree manslaughter and two counts of criminal neglect — felony deprivation for Hardel Sherrell’s death in September 2018.

Skroch, 37, was the director of nursing for MEnD Correctional Care, the former health care provider at the Beltrami County jail. According to the complaint, she started working for MEnD in 2010 and was a board-licensed nurse in Minnesota until her license was revoked in 2023.

The complaint alleges that from Sept. 1-2, 2018, Skroch “failed to properly care for Mr. Sherrell while he was in the custody of the Beltrami County Jail, and her negligent mistreatment of Mr. Sherrell resulted in his death,” the release said.

Sherrell was 27 years old when he died at the jail on Sept. 2, less than two weeks after he was arrested on a warrant for felon in possession of a firearm. According to the initial release from the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, Sherrell “collapsed and became unresponsive” and was pronounced dead after life-saving efforts were unsuccessful.

According to the complaint, in the days before his death, Sherrell underwent several medical assessments, noting that he was experiencing back pain, numbness on his right side and pain while walking. He also reported falling out of his bunk bed and lying on the floor for 25 minutes.

After his condition worsened, he was taken to the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center and later to the Sanford Fargo (N.D.) Medical Center for an MRI on Aug. 31. There, Sherrell was diagnosed with “malingering and weakness,” the complaint said, and discharge instructions advised that Sherrell should return for care if his symptoms worsen.

On Sept. 1, Skroch arrived for her shift at the jail and received an update on Sherrell’s condition. Despite this information, Skroch “only interacted with (Sherrell) for a few minutes” that day. She also did not assess any of his vital signs as he had his vitals documented at the hospital, the complaint said.

“(Skroch) explained that she did not believe that (Sherrell) was experiencing a medical emergency on Sept. 1, 2018,” the complaint said. “Surveillance footage, however, shows (Sherrell) was limp, slumped over, and required correctional officers’ assistance onto his cot, and to be placed in an upright position, at least six times in less than two hours.”

On the day of Sherrell’s death, Skroch’s only interaction with Sherrell was observing him in his wheelchair before he was bathed by correctional officers. Skroch reported that his condition had “slight(ly) improved” and was “better from the day before,” the complaint said.

Later that day, Sherrell was found unresponsive and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the cause of death was pneumonia and cerebral edema. An outside forensic pathologist reviewed the autopsy and concluded that Sherrell’s cause of death was complications of “progressive neurological disorder (consistent with) Guillain-Barré Syndrome,” the complaint said.

The complaint asserts that Skroch failed to perform “the most basic nursing care” and did not take Sherrell’s vitals for two days, despite “objective evidence” of his medical distress after he returned from the emergency room,

the release continued.

As outlined in the complaint, a correctional health care expert’s review concluded that Skroch’s actions demonstrated a “tremendous breach in the standard of care,” the release said.

Ellison’s office charged Skroch upon a referral from Beltrami County Attorney David Hanson under Minnesota Statutes, Section 8.01, which provides, “Upon request of the county attorney, the attorney general shall appear in court in such criminal cases as the attorney general deems proper.”

The Beltrami County Attorney’s Office requested the attorney general’s assistance with this case in February 2023, the release said. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigated this matter.

“A criminal complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the release said.