
After an investigation by WWL-TV reveals St. Tammany coroner-elect Dr. Christopher Tape was charged with six counts of child sexual assault in New Mexico, local lawmakers are calling for him to resign. The charges were dropped because he didn’t receive a speedy trial, but Franklinton Senator Beth Mizell said Tape was never proven innocent either…
“That’s really concerning and knowing that the coroner is the person who oversees the sexual assault nursing program is really concerning,” said Mizell.
In a phone interview with WWL-TV Tape said his experience of being accused of child sexual assault makes him a good person to lead the sexual assault response team because he knows what a false accusation is like.
Tape ran unopposed, so members of the parish legislative delegation are asking for support of a recall petition. Mizell said if Tape does not resign, a recall petition is their only option to keep him from taking office next month.
“I just think that we’ve got to call it out when see something that’s so shocking to the public and to us as elected officials,” said Mizell.
According to WWL-TV court records show Tape admitted to Albuquerque police in 2001 that he spanked and then rubbed the bare bottom of his girlfriend’s seven-year-old daughter. Tape told investigators he was disciplining her and he denied molesting her. Tape sats the pornography collected from his property without a warrant was legal.
Tape reportedly has only been living in St. Tammany Parish for about a year and Mizell said she and other lawmakers were caught completely off-guard with news of his previous charges.
“And that begs the question why wouldn’t there have been a criminal background check before putting someone in that position,” said Mizell.
WWL-TV quoted recent court records in Lafayette Parish where Tape paid an undisclosed amount in a 2022 civil settlement young woman who worked for him at the private autopsy firm he ran there after she accused him of unwanted advances.
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