Marion County Coroner Kenneth Ackles withdrew today as a candidate for coroner in the May 6 primary.
Of the two Democrats who filed to run for coroner before today's noon deadline, one was a former chief deputy coroner. John Linehan was fired by Ackles and later won a racial discrimination judgment that ordered the coroner's office to pay him more than $400,000 in damages. The other Democratic candidate is Dr. Frank Lloyd Jr.
The Marion County Democratic Party slated Ackles as its pick for the primary last Saturday. That same day, the Indianapolis Star reported that Ackles had failed to pass portions of a required training course mandated under a new state law.
Other controversies involving Ackles stemmed from his firing of the forensic pathology group hired to perform autopsies, and a police and prosecutor's office investigation following the theft by someone in the coroner's office of more than $3,000 from a body at the morgue.
On the Republican side, Dr. John Pless won the party's backing and is the only GOP candidate filed to run for coroner. Pless, a forensic pathologist, has been coroner in two other counties and also has performed autopsies for Marion County as part of an Indiana University teaching program.
Ackles was elected in 2004 and took office in January 2005. He is a chiropractor and the first nonphysician to hold the office in Marion County in more than 40 years.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Ackles Withdraws From Coroner's Race
Kenneth Ackles has withdrawn his candidacy for re-election as Marion County Coroner after he was re-slated by county Democrats just last weekend. That leaves two Democratic candidates in the field, including former Chief Deputy Coroner John Linehan and Dr. Lloyd Frank, Jr. The Republicans nominated Dr. John Pless as their candidate for coroner. The Star's Brendan O'Shaughnessy has this online update on this new development:
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19 comments:
Good.
But now we have nine months or so of a bitter ousted coroner, to deal with.
Easily the worst-run office in county government. Sadly. Because we all need that office, and when we do, it's in a time of distress, when we need comforted and good service.
Congrats to the new coroner. Hope you are ready for the HUGE mess you are going to get when you take office. "Ackles Chiropractic, may I help you?" Practice that line Alfie Ballew, you are gonna need it.
Too bad he didn't have this conscience about 4 years ago.
I have a question:
***What happened to Prosecutor Carl Brizzi? He went on TV serving a search warrant at "Bones" Ackles' office after theft of county property and decedent's property was discovered. He said justice would be served....and we've never heard from him since.
Since that search warrant was served, the county (that's You & Me) taxpayers now must pay for "Bones" Ackles' corruption to the tune of a 6 digit dollar amount because "Bones" Ackles was found in a court of law to DISCRIMINATE based on RACE of the employee.
Where is justice, Mr. Brizzi?
Subpeonas are often served that produce little or no evidence the prosecutors originally sought.
But rarely are they served with TV reporters getting tipped off in advance.
So the prosecutor has no shame. That's not news. Makeup, he has. Shame, he has none.
The coroner failed miserably. That's not news either.
I'd be bitter as well if I had been ousted and treated shabbily as has been Lineman...of course, the word on the streets is this was entirely fault of Mr. Ed, as was the Suryeror. Looks like who ever gets the Coroner nod in November will be qualified. And bully to Alex for getting in the circuit court race
What's astounded me is the annual pay of the Marion County Coroner: ~$40K/year -- doesn't a rookie cop make more than that?
What should astound you Wilson is that Ackles earned even that much. You see, he RARELY came to the office, usually only after Linehan had to call him to come and sign a stack of 100 PLUS death certificates piling up on his desk. Then when Linehan tried to discipline Ballew for blatant violations of office rules/regulations, Ackles terminated Linehan and replaced him with Ballew. And you all know the rest of the story......The pay is set by the CCC and isnt bad part-time change for a Physician already making plenty. The coroner is not a full-time position, but does require much more time in the office than Ackles ever put in. Maybe if he had a Chief that actually knew the job he wouldn't be in such a mess.
Wilson, in case you didn't know it we expect more from a rookie cop! State Law requires cops to PASS the law enforcement academy BEFORE they can make arrests..."Bones" Ackles was REQUIRED to pass a competency test to be coroner, yet he FAILED the test and has been WRONGFULLY paid in violation of state law....
...Where's the indictment for Official Misconduct, a FELONY crime, Mr. Brizzi?
Wilson,
$40,000 is a hell of a lot for a part-time job. Kenneth Ackles, D.C. is still running his private practice and seeing patients during the day.
Who is Larry Lamont Ledford Wilson?
A rookie cop has to read & write, Wilson. "Bones" Ackles can do neither.
I believe Larry Lamont Ledford is also known as "Crazy Larry", the guy with the paper bag hat - but I could be wrong. The paperbag hat guy was busy announcing at Julia's candlelight vigil December 1st that he was running...
It was under Linehan's supervision that all the thefts of money took place...at least one employee of the office reported the thefts to Linehan, who did nothing about it and knew about them.
7:36 That is a flat out LIE and you know it(Alfie or whoever you are) Linehan took his concerns about multiple problems at MCCO to Ackles and got blown-off. Then when Ballew had problems getting to work on time and taking early morning calls(34th and Broadway) he again went to Ackles and promptly got fired for trying to do the right thing. The person who stole the money was a crony hire by Ackles with ZERO medical background and Ackles did nothing after Linehan brought this to him.
anon 7:36, anon 9:03 is correct. Those issues were all discussed in John Linehan's administrative law judge hearing. You would be well-advised to obtain a copy of the transcript for that proceeding and read it before spouting off something like that again. The only wonder is why this has not all been sorted out by our county prosecutor. Lots of evidence collected. No action. And no public explanation after he called TV news camera crews out to televise him executing a search warrant on the MCCO and carrying away boxes of evidence.
AI: Where could one obtain a copy of the administrative hearing transcript? I've heard its quite drmatic at times, and yet humorours when Ackles is on the stand.
Who is Dr. Lloyd Frank, Jr?
Dr. Frank Lloyd Jr. is a respected general surgeon at Methodist hospital. As an RN in surgery, I have scrubbed for Dr. Lloyd for over 11 years. He will make a great coroner! He has a unique knack for diagnosis, and knows what questions to ask his residents. He has operated on trauma patients for years, including gun shot wounds and blunt trauma cases. He is a down to earth man with superb critical thinking skills and a commitment to excellence. Vote for him!
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