CROWN POINT | Lake County Coroner Merrilee D. Frey announced Friday she has been certified by the state as a medical death investigator.
Frey said she completed the Medicolegal instruction required by the Indiana State Coroner's Training Board in two weeks, well ahead of the six-month deadline for certification required by state law.
"I made it my priority to sit for this certification to demonstrate that I respect this office and the critical responsibilities that are associated with being coroner," she said.
A caucus of Democratic precinct committee members selected Frey as coroner Sept. 15 to replace former coroner Thomas Philpot, who was stripped of office Aug. 24 after a U.S District Court jury found him guilty of stealing $24,000 in federal funds while serving as county clerk between 2004 and 2009.
Frey is on the Nov. 6 general election ballot as Democratic candidate for a full four-year term as coroner. If she is elected, that term would begin in 2014. Frey is opposed by Republican Dr. Andy Koultourides, a dentist and Munster town councilman.
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