Worker Who Performed Postmortem Procedures Without Certification Will Return To ME’s Office
Officials concluded that they lacked the grounds to charge Armando Chavez with a crime or fire him, because the law was ambiguous about who could conduct an autopsy and Chavez was acting under direct orders from his boss.
Ventura County Star:
Investigator Removed From Medical Examiner's Office In Probe Transferred Back To Duty
An investigator taken off the job more than two years ago amid a probe into the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office can come back to work but won't have any supervisory duties. Armando Chavez is expected to return by early October to the agency that investigates sudden deaths, depending on the length of a leave of absence he has taken, county officials said. Chavez performed postmortem procedures on decedents in May 2015 under instructions that former and since ousted Medical Examiner Jon Smith emailed to him while the physician was on a two-week vacation. (Wilson, 7/31)