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Coroner defends self on cremation charge |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Tuesday, 05 October 2004 |
By Lee Filas
10/2/2004
Lake County Coroner Jim Wipper defended himself against accusations he wrongly profited from disposing of the bodies of unclaimed, indigent people in return for a state fee.
Published reports Friday said Wipper, who is a licensed funeral director, cremates such corpses at a cost of $150. In return, he is paid a fee of nearly $1,000.
The Ingleside Republican said Friday he has done nothing wrong. He said he handles the cremations at the direction of the Lake County public guardian and administrators office.
They occur only when the public guardian cannot find a funeral home to bury an unclaimed, indigent corpse, he said.
"If I took it upon myself to do that, then it would be illegal," Wipper said. "The administrator's office calls me and asks me to take care of this."
However, his opponent in the Nov. 2 election for coroner, Richard Keller, a Waukegan Democrat, said he will hold a news conference Monday to call for a full criminal investigation into Wipper's practice.
"I seriously have some questions as to whether this is illegal or not," Keller said. "One thing is for sure, though, that it's ethically wrong and extremely appalling."
At least two county officials say no laws have been broken.
Lake County Chief Deputy State's Attorney Meg Marcouiller, who leads the office's civil division, said the practice is not illegal.
Public Guardian Joseph Vogler said he contacts Wipper to cremate the body of an unclaimed, indigent person when no other funeral home will take the job.
"(Wipper) only does this for us if no one else can take it," Vogler said. "We have great funeral directors in the county and most of the time they step in to help out during these situations. But, sometimes, the money just isn't there for them to do it."
Wipper, who was appointed coroner in May 2003 after Barbara Richardson retired, said he has been doing this type of cremation for more than 20 years. He said his predecessors in the office knew about the practice.
He said he handles such requests three to four times a year.
"I get paid, but it's a part-time job for me," he said. "I'm not acting as a coroner in those situations and I'm not mixing the jobs up. I'm asked to perform this as a funeral director, so I do it."
Keller refuted claims that funeral homes are called by the public guardian's office and said Wipper should not be pocketing state money for the work.
He added Wipper also shouldn't use county-purchased automobiles from the coroner's office to transport the bodies to the crematorium.
"I am calling for a full inventory of all of the individuals that Mr. Wipper has cremated and a full and complete catalog of all the remains," he said. "He acts like he's borrowing paper clips or something."
http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_story.asp?intid=3826210 |
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