ORANGE, Calif. – A man awaiting trial on child pornography charges was beaten to death by inmates in an Orange County jail, a sheriff’s spokesman said Friday.

John Derek Chamberlain, 41, was pronounced dead at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center late Thursday after deputies found him lying near his bunk bed, said Jim Amormino, sheriff’s spokesman. It was the first homicide in an Orange County jail in 20 years, he said.

Chamberlain, of Mission Viejo, was arrested Sept. 14 for investigation of possessing child pornography for sale after deputies responding to a disturbance call in Rancho Santa Margarita said they found the materials in his car.

He had been scheduled for trial Oct. 24.

Amormino said homicide detectives, who are interviewing about 140 inmates, believe Chamberlain was attacked in the shower, then dragged to a spot near his bunk bed. He had injuries to his head, face and chest consistent with being punched and kicked.

Chamberlain was not in protective custody at the Theo Lacy Jail.

“There’s varying degrees of sex crimes. It’s more of a low-level sex crime and the section that he was housed in, all those prisoners are in there for low-level type crimes, property crimes,” Amormino said.

The Theo Lacy facility houses 2,800 inmates, including about 140 in the unit for nonviolent offenders.