Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. (WGNO) — A group of state legislators is demanding the resignation of St. Tammany Parish’s newly elected coroner.
Dr. Christopher Tape ran unopposed this past fall after current St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Charles Preston announced he would be retiring.
Tape is supposed to assume office March 25.
Lawmakers with the Northshore Legislative Delegation say Tape is unfit for the job because of child sexual abuse charges brought against him more than 20 years ago.
“I think the first reaction was shock and disappointment,” said Senator Beth Mizell, of Franklinton.
Tape was arrested in New Mexico in 2001 on six counts of child sexual abuse. A district court judge dismissed the charges because of a delayed indictment, saying it was a violation of Tape’s right to a speedy trial.
The Northshore lawmakers described the charges as unresolved.
“It’s not what we expect to have in someone who would hold such an office,” said Mizell. “Secondarily, you think how did that bypass a criminal background check, and then you find out there was no criminal background check.”
According to a spokesman for Preston, they are not in communication with Tape. The spokesman went on to say the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners gave Tape the greenlight, so there was an assumption his background was clean.
If the coroner-elect doesn’t resign, the group of legislators say they would support a recall petition.
“I mean, that’s going to be the more difficult route, but as part of leading a parish agency that’s really built on the trust of the community, it would be awkward to go in there, knowing that the community really was astounded at what they had learned,” said Mizell.
The phone number Tape provided the Louisiana Secretary of State is the number to the coroner’s office. We did send him an email, requesting an interview or response, but we have not heard back.
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