March 12--About 180 bodies are in storage at the Los Angeles County morgue because of delays in processing, Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner Mark Fajardo said in an interview Friday.
Fajardo said he was resigning and returning to his old post in Riverside County as chief forsenic pathologist because his pleas to county officials for more resources have been ignored.
Typically, he said, there would be "50 or 60 bodies waiting" for investigators to write up reports or examiners to complete autopsies before they could be released to relatives.
Kathryn Barger, chief deputy to county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said the office had received complaints from some relatives about the length of time it was taking to get information about their loved ones' deaths.
Though the coroner's overall budget remained roughly the same over the last two years, the number of positions was cut from 244 to 227, according to county budget records.
Fajardo said that since he arrived in 2013, he has asked to get additional staff and equipment to provide better services to no avail.
Fajardo, who previously headed the coroner's office in Riverside County, said a six-month backlog in toxicology tests further illustrated the tough plight of his office. He blamed the problem on staff departures and faulty equipment.
In an interview with The Times shortly after he took the job, he said his office's budget, which was $32 million in 2013, was not nearly enough. But he said that the service it provided for such a budget "is amazing."
"We are the premiere coroner's office in the United States, especially in light of -- I don't mind reiterating -- the budget we have," Fajardo said. "I think we serve the people of Los Angeles County very well."
David Sommers, spokesman for the county chief executive, declined to comment on Fajardo's statements, citing an "ongoing personnel matter." County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl also declined to comment, saying the supervisors had not officially received or accepted Fajardo's resignation. A spokeswoman for Supervisor Hilda Solis referred questions to the chief executive office. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas declined comment, and Supervisor Don Knabe could not be reached for comment.
"This is an on-going personnel matter, however, the board is committed to ensuring that the coroner has and continues to have the resources necessary to fulfill its obligation to the residents of Los Angeles County," Antonovich said in a statement
Last month, the supervisors asked the coroner's office to work with the chief executive's office to conduct a countywide assessment of the workload and response times and report back.
Fajardo was born in East L.A. When he was in seventh grade, his father, a sheriff's deputy, was killed in an auto accident and his family moved to Santa Maria. While in medical school, a stint in the pathology department led him into forensic pathology.
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