Celebrity coroner indicted (Dr. Cyril Wecht)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/20/coroner.indictment.ap/index.html

Dr. Cyril Wecht, a high-profile coroner who has consulted on deaths from Elvis Presley to JonBenet Ramsey, was indicted on federal charges of using government resources to further his private practice.

The 84-count indictment includes mail fraud, wire fraud, theft of honest services and theft from the Allegheny County coroner's office, which Wecht heads.

FBI agents searched his office, seizing computers and his private files last spring, and three of his employees resigned as the federal investigation proceeded.

Wecht, who signed an agreement to resign from the $105,000-a-year post if he were indicted, has said he is careful to not do private work on county time. He also has said he has never been questioned about the private consulting work he has done for the decades he has held a government job.

Some in Pittsburgh think Republican Mary Beth Buchanan is on a witch-hunt to further her career and get a federal judgeship. I don't know. I think Cyril also plays fast and loose with the rules. By the way this is the federal attorney who put Tommy Chong in jail for selling bongs - gee I feel safer.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

1. Dr. Wecht has never played "fast and loose with the rules"....if you....

...have anything factual to back up that claim, please post it.

Dr. Wecht has been a thorn in the side of rightwingers for quite some time, going back to his challenge of the conclusions reached by the Warren Commission Report.

IMHO, this is nothing but a hit-job aimed at silencing yet another critic of the extreme rightwing.

[El Supremo]

2. He just testified at the Ft. Carson Court-Martial

Wecht had testified yesterday that stress and a pre-existing heart condition killed Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush in 2003.

Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Junior is charged with murder.

http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=e8c11189-0abe-421a-00f5-02ace843b45f&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf


This is strange.

[BR_Parkway]

4. WTF? is right, there's always some odd connection

[peace frog]

3. Dr Wecht has been highly critical of

the Warren Report, specifically regarding the autopsy performed on JFK which he stated was incompetent in the extreme. And we can't be havin' no gol-danged librul-minded medical examiner, now can we my little fweepers?

[RamboLiberal]

5. I've lived in Pittsburgh all my life

And its known that Wecht has done private work on county time and used county resources. He's managed to skate so far, but he did in 93 have to reimburse the county $200,000 in a private settlement.

I stand by my comment that I think Wecht does play fast and loose with the rules. Hell, Democratic DA Steven Zappala has gone after him. In Allegheny County I do think there's a lot of taint and cronyism in the party with many of these old-school politicians like Wecht, DeFazio, O' Connor, etc.

[Divernan]

6. Wecht is a megalomaniac who believes he is above the law.

RAmbo Liberal does not exaggerate - Wecht most recently was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. He was parked in a garage at one of the medical teaching hospitals in Oakland (the University of Pittsburgh section of the city). He backed out of his parking space, ran into and dented a parked car, never stopped, and hit the gas and took off. Another physician saw the accident and took down the license number and reported it. The witness said it was a heavy enough and loud enough crash that the driver HAD to have known he'd hit another car. I believe it was a county govt. car, but I know for sure that Wecht was driving it. You see, he is a very important man, and when he's in a hurry, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. He has a Bushian attitude toward the law.