OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A pathologist hired as the temporary head of the embattled Oklahoma medical examiner's office was accused a decade ago of sexual harassment and misconduct in Arizona.



A lawsuit filed against Dr. Andrew Sibley in 2000 when he was a pathologist in Pima County, Ariz., accused him of routinely harassing female employees, allowing unauthorized women to participate in autopsies and riding his motorcycle past dead bodies and into an autopsy room.



The board that oversees the Oklahoma medical examiner's office voted unanimously Saturday to appoint Sibley as its chief medical examiner to oversee the agency.



Sibley, who has worked for 10 years as a pathologist at the agency's Tulsa office, informed the board about the allegations in Arizona, and denied most of them, said Cherokee Ballard, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.



"He said for the most part, they weren't true," Ballard said. "He did acknowledge driving the motorcycle into the morgue."



According to published reports in two daily newspapers in Tucson, Ariz., a Pima County investigation confirmed several allegations in the lawsuit, which was filed by a female worker in the office. Records from that investigation were later destroyed, said Gwen Hatcher, the county's human resources director.



"Basically, it was animal house at the morgue, and Dr. Sibley was, among other people, proven to be culpable," said Joseph Watkins, an attorney for the woman who sued Sibley and Pima County. "The county did an independent investigation that substantiated the allegations."



Sibley was eventually dropped as a defendant in the lawsuit, and the suit was settled with the county for an undisclosed amount, Watkins said.



Sibley declined a request for an interview Tuesday. In a written statement, he said the allegations occurred after he left the office in Arizona.



"I've never harassed anybody," Sibley said. "I'm the type of person who stays to myself and just wants to do my job and to help the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner."



The chairman of the board and several members declined to speak to The Associated Press about their decision to hire Sibley. Telephone messages left with other members were not returned.



The lawsuit alleged Sibley allowed unauthorized women to observe and participate in autopsies, and that during the plaintiff's tenure at the agency, she was "subjected to a continuous barrage of harassment, insults and reprehensible behavior by Dr. Sibley."



The Oklahoma medical examiner's office has been rocked by a number of scandals in recent months. The former chief investigator, Kevin Rowland, was charged last year with sexual battery against several employees. Some of those charges were later dropped, and Rowland was acquitted of improperly touching a male co-worker. He still faces a first-degree rape charge for an alleged sexual assault against a female employee in Tulsa.



The agency lost its national accreditation last year, and several top administrators have either resigned or been fired.



Last week, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater launched an investigation into whether a state senator agreed not to seek re-election in exchange for a newly created position at the state medical examiner's office. Two House members also are targets in that probe, Prater said.

    

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.