ST. TAMMANY PARISH, La. — The balloons were set. The staff had gathered. Even Dr. Christopher Tape’s dog was at the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office at 11:45 p.m. ready to welcome the newly-elected coroner.
But when Tape arrived in his Tesla at 11:53 p.m., he sat at the open gates to the back parking lot, not moving. A staffer was on the phone with him, telling him WWL Louisiana was there, waiting to put him on camera.
It had been six weeks since the station’s exclusive report on Tape’s 2002 indictment on child sexual assault charges involving his then-girlfriend’s 7-year-old daughter. The indictment was thrown out after a New Mexico court found prosecutors took too long between arresting and indicting Tape, who was in medical school at the time.
The WWL investigation also reported on Tape’s 2022 settlement with a 26-year-old female employee at his private forensic pathology business in Broussard. She had accused him of unwanted sexual advances, according to court records.
For the last month, all the top elected officials in the parish had been asking Tape to resign before taking office. They were particularly focused on the fact that, as coroner, Tape would be charged with overseeing sexual assault evidence-gathering for a five-parish area.
When it became clear Tape would not step aside and would take office at midnight Monday morning, St. Tammany Parish President Mike Cooper said, “I believe most if not all elected officials will support the effort to recall the new coroner.”
Although Tape ran unopposed and was elected last fall without even appearing on the election ballot, it will take more than 37,000 certified St. Tammany voters’ signatures on an official recall petition to trigger a recall election.
A committee to recall Tape could be formed as soon as Monday. In addition to the revelations about child sexual assault allegations, Tape had shocked officials across five Northshore parishes again last week by announcing he would end the sexual assault nurse examiner program run by the St. Tammany Coroner’s Office and designate hospitals to take over instead.
All the while, Tape had refused to go on camera to answer questions. After granting WWL a telephone interview in January, he limited his comments to a few emails and social media posts. So, when this reporter walked toward Tape’s car with a camera rolling, he backed the Tesla up and drove twice around a traffic circle.
Then he drove to a different parking lot, this time in front of the coroner’s large office building.
As he walked to the door, WWL finally caught up to him and asked what he had to say about the calls for a recall.
“I don’t have anything to say,” he said. “I’m no comment right now. I’m coming to work. Thank you.”
VIDEO: Investigator David Hammer confronts Dr. Christopher Tape on his first day at office in St. Tammany
His assistant tried to shut the door to the public government building until this reporter noted it was 11:59 p.m. Dr. Charles Preston had invited us in, and he was still the coroner for one more minute.
We told Tape the newly elected district attorney of St. Tammany, Collin Sims, criticized Tape’s decision to end the coroner’s direct control over the SANE program.
“I hope to be able to have a conversation with him as two professionals and explain the impact that that program has because it's not one that you end,” Sims told WWL.
But Tape ducked into a secure hallway, now officially the coroner for the first time.
Although Tape declined to answer questions about the SANE program, his new assistant coroner, Yancy Guerin, had suggested designating area hospitals to handle sexual assault evidence-gathering themselves.
“I'm not a SANE expert, but I can tell you, from what I've seen, I have some questions,” Guerin said. Could be wrong … but I don't think the coroner has any purpose of being involved with the SANE program. Do you have any reason why a coroner should be involved?
When WWL noted a 2015 state law put coroners in charge of gathering evidence of sexual assaults, Guerin said that law also allowed the coroner to designate hospitals to hire the sexual assault nurse examiners themselves.
After kicking WWL out of the building, Tape and his team returned to the balloon-festooned lobby to celebrate with speeches, champagne, and prayers, visible but not audible from the outside through the all-glass façade.
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