HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- An Ohio morgue employee is in prison and the county he worked for faces a lawsuit after he admitted to frequently sexually assaulting dead bodies after they were checked in.
Hamilton County resident Kenneth Douglas admitted in court to specific charges that he drunkenly engaged in sexual intercourse with three corpses, but said the overall number of corpses he abused between 1976 and 1992 could be as high as 100.
"I would just get on top of them and pull my pants down," Hamilton said.
Between 2008 and 2012, Douglas pleaded guilty to three separate counts of having intercourse with a corpse, prompting the families of the victims to come together to sue Hamilton County for ignoring warning signs and continuing to employ Douglas.
The county maintained it could not be sued for the criminal activity of an employee, but the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that a jury could reasonably conclude county employees "recklessly and wantonly" failed to prevent the incidents.
"The county had plenty of notice that Douglas was coming to work and was present at work while he was under the influence of alcohol and drugs," attorney Al Gerhardstein told WCPO.
"Had he been stopped, these women would not have been abused."
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