Coroner’s Office to Undergo Audit

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office, already the subject of a district attorney’s investigation, will undergo a management audit, the county’s chief auditor said Tuesday.

Chief Auditor J. Tyler McCauley declined to say whether the audit is connected to the district attorney’s investigation. The district attorney is looking into allegations that employees in the coroner’s office have colluded with private funeral homes to charge the federal government for the funeral expenses of indigent veterans already cremated at county expense.

“There have been indications that the county has been doing (the cremations) and that it’s being paid for by county taxpayers, and that private funeral homes may have been billing the federal government for the exact same service,” said district attorney’s spokesman Sandi Gibbons.

Coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher called the audit routine. “It has been a number of years since we’ve had an audit. We’re due to have one,” he said.

It will be the first audit of the office since 1982, when Dr. Thomas Noguchi was demoted from the post of chief county medical examiner for mismanaging his office.