LEADVILLE | The coroner in a remote Colorado mountain community has been accused of sending his wife to handle numerous death investigations even though she wasn’t authorized to do so.
District Attorney Bruce Brown said Monday that Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent was indicted on a charge of second-degree official misconduct.
Kent said he was waiting to consult with his attorney before commenting.
Kent is based in Leadville, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Denver. He was appointed to the job in 2012 and elected to four-year terms in 2014 and 2018.
He’s the second elected official in Brown’s district to be indicted this summer.
Eagle County Sheriff James van Beek was charged with official misconduct in August over expenditures from a reserve fund. Van Beek said Brown had misinterpreted the rules.