interesting

The King County Medical Examiner's Office is confident noinvestigations were compromised by an investigator who is facingcharges of stealing drugs from the dead.
Thomas Chapin was a veteran ME's death investigator whose jobincluded collecting bodies of the deceased and drugs at deathscenes that could help a pathologist determine how and why someonedied.
Chapin has been charged with stealing narcotics, includingoxycodone and methamphetamines, and has been charged withpossession of the drugs in King County District Court.Investigators say they believe the thefts began shortly afterChapin was hired in November 2002 and continued undiscovered forabout five years.
James Apa, spokesman for Seattle and King County Public Health,which oversees the medical examiner's office, did not know how manycases Chapin has been involved with but said the office conducted2,119 investigations in 2006. Chapin has been with the office fornearly six years and there are 11 other death investigators.
The Medical Examiner's Office does not plan on reviewing any casesChapin worked on, Apa said. Chapin is cooperating withinvestigators "and he gave no indication that what he did wouldhave jeopardized any investigation," Apa said.
"If we felt that it had, then we would be looking into it," headded.
Medication collected as evidence plays a limited role indetermining a cause of death, Apa said.
When drugs are collected and brought to the Medical Examiner'sOffice, it serves more to guide pathologists during an autopsy,said Donald Reay, retired King County chief medical examiner.
"It's nice to know what medications were present at the scene, butin terms of drawing a conclusion, it depends on an autopsy," whichis performed by a forensic pathologist, Reay said.
Often a pathologist will verify that drugs found at a scene arewhat were brought in as evidence. Because of this, the number ofmedications stored as proof is less significant than ensuring thecorrect drug was collected.
This is probably one reason Chapin's alleged thefts wentundiscovered for so long, said Gareth Johnson, manager of theprevention division for Seattle and King County public health.Chapin was smart enough to leave some pills when he allegedlystole, Johnson said.
There was one alleged instance where Chapin did steal all of amedication collected as evidence. Apa could not provide specifics,but Johnson guessed Chapin took them after an autopsy, when apathologist would have checked drugs collected as evidence.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office is working on terminatingChapin's employment. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug.
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