A county coroner who claimed he was drugged at work admitted to stealing drugs off dead bodies "to know how it felt" after he was rushed to the hospital from his office.
Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice blamed a colleague for spiking his energy drink, shake powder and the water in an electric tea kettle with cocaine and fentanyl. According to the Yakima Herald-Republic, police learned he was lying after a lie detector test forced Curtice to admit to taking and using drugs from the corpses brought to his office.
The issue came to light when Curtice, who reportedly suffers from trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder and has a history of substance abuse, was rushed to the hospital after his wife, Kristi Foster, also an elected official, found him in his work office "staring into space" with stiff blue lips, the Herald-Republic reported. The hospital found fentanyl and cocaine in his system.
Police became suspicious when Curtice reported the drugging the next day, but kept changing the story's details.
Then, while searching his office, the FBI and Yakima Police Department detectives found powder on the coroner's work desk. The police dog also signaled there were drugs in the autopsy room.
Curtice later failed a lie detector test, leading him to admit "to using drugs three times a week for the past several months in his office," the Herald-Republic reported.
When asked where he found the drugs, Curtice told police "he takes the drugs off of deceased bodies." He also said he did it because "he wanted to know how it felt."
The Ellensburg City Attorney's Office is weighing whether to file misdemeanor charges against Curtice, who is currently on leave from his office position to address "personal issues," according to the Herald-Republic. It's unclear what will happen if he's charged.
