A man who
worked in a morgue admitted to having
sex with female corpses while at work,
federal officials said.
Kenneth Douglas, of Hamilton Co. , Ohio,
admitted in court that he sexually abused
three corpses while he was drunk or on
drugs, but he had sex with up to 100
bodies, he said in a deposition.
"I would just get on top of them and pull
my pants down," said Douglas, who
worked the night shift at the morgue
from 1976 to 1992.
A jury might conclude the former coroner
and morgue director failed "recklessly and
wantonly" to supervise Douglas, the 6th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday
in allowing the suit to continue.
The panel cited evidence that Douglas'
supervisors were aware he was drinking
and also having sex with live women
while on the job, WCPO reported .
Douglas' wife testified in a deposition that
he reeked of sex when she picked him up
from work. She said she called the
coroner's office and reported him, but the
morgue supervisor told her to stop
calling.
The families of the three victims sued the
county in 2012.
Douglas, now 60, was convicted of gross
abuse of a corpse in the cases of Karen
Range, Charlene Appling and April Hicks
in 1991 and 1992.
Douglas also admitted to having sex with
bodies being stored while awaiting
autopsies.
Douglas' crimes didn't come to light until
2008 when DNA connected him to semen
found in Range.
Range's killer, David Steffen, had admitted
slaying her but denied raping her.
In 2008, Douglas pleaded guilty in the
Range case and was sentenced to three
years in prison.
In 2012, he pleaded guilty again in the
Appling and Hicks cases.
Their families sued that year.
It was the fourth time the county was
sued for failing to protect bodies in the
morgue.
"I can't explain this at all," Hamilton
County Prosecutor Joe Deters said at the
time.
Dr. Frank Cleveland was the coroner
when Douglas sexually abused those three
corpses. Cleveland died in 2011.
"If I hadn't had anything to drink when I
went to work, it wouldn't happen," said
Douglas. "I would do crack and go in and
drink and go in."
Douglas' wife said she called the morgue
supervisor about her husband smelling
like sex and alcohol after work.
"He said, 'Whatever happens on county
time and on county property is county
business,'" said Douglas' wife.
The county ignored the warning signs,
according to Al Gerhardstein, one of the
families' attorneys.
"The county had plenty of notice that
Douglas was coming to work and was
present at work while he was under the
influence of alcohol and drugs,"
Gerhardstein said. "Had he been stopped,
these women would not have been
abused."
The county argued it should not be held
liable because the cases involved
unknown criminal acts of an employee.
The appeals panel opinion upholds earlier
rulings by a lower court, including
rejecting federal constitutional violation
claims by relatives of the women whose
corpses were abused.
The prosecutor's office is reviewing the
appeals court opinion, a spokesperson
said Friday.

http://www.wptv.com/news/national/kenneth-douglas-man-who-worked-in-morgue-admits-to-having-sex-with-corpse