Yakima County coroner accused of using dead people’s drugs and lying

Yakima police are accusing Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice of evidence tampering, making false statements and official misconduct after he falsely maintained for more than two weeks that someone tried to poison him with drugs.

Curtice told Yakima police that an energy drink, his workout energy shake powder and water in an electric tea kettle were spiked with cocaine and fentanyl, and he was taken to the hospital with drugs in his system after sipping a drink.

His claims fell apart after failing a lie detector test, according to a Yakima police report, and he admitted he had been snorting drugs he obtained from dead bodies in the course of his job for a couple of months.

Curtice’s claims of being poisoned and their debunking are detailed in reports and a search warrant filed by Yakima police, which were obtained by the Yakima Herald-Republic through a public records request. Information in this story comes from those documents.

The Ellensburg City Attorney’s Office is weighing whether to file misdemeanor charges. Yakima police had referred the case to the Ellensburg prosecutor for a charging decision due to potential conflicts of interest in Yakima.

Curtice is on leave to address “personal issues,” said Yakima County Commissioner LaDon Linde.

It is the second time Curtice has had a problem related to substance abuse that involved law enforcement. In March 2023, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy spotted Curtice at a bar and took him home, at which point Curtice started fighting. When other deputies arrived, they placed Curtice in handcuffs and were taking him to a patrol vehicle when Curtice did a leg-sweep kick, knocking over one of the deputies, according to reports filed by the Sheriff’s Office.

While the Sheriff’s Office recommended charging him with third-degree assault, Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic declined to file charges, citing Curtice’s mental state and intoxication.

Curtice’s wife, Kristi Foster, the president of the Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce, said at the time Curtice was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of a combination of childhood trauma and 30 years he spent as a firefighter and as a paramedic.

She has said on social media PTSD is a factor in the August incident as well. She did not respond to a message left at her office Wednesday seeking comment.

Curtice also did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Taken to the hospital

According to the police report, Curtice called the Yakima Police Department on Aug. 27 to report that someone had put drugs in his drink at work the day before.

Curtice told police he had taken a sip of one of his energy drinks, which he said tasted “acidic,” spat it out and then started feeling ill, the report said. Curtice said he then called his wife, according to the report filed by Lt. Chad Janis.

He initially told police that Foster drove him to the hospital to avoid publicity but later said he recalled being in an ambulance with paramedics telling him to breathe, the report said.

In his first statement, he said a test the hospital ran found he had cocaine and fentanyl in his system but subsequently said that the hospital could not test for fentanyl.

After he was released from the hospital, he said he did a drug test that found fentanyl in his urine, and a presumptive drug test on his workout drink powder and water in a tea kettle indicated fentanyl and cocaine were present, the affidavit said.

In an interview with police, Foster said when she got to the coroner’s office the afternoon of Aug. 26, Curtice was unconscious in his chair, the police report said.

“She described him to be ‘out’ and ‘staring into space.’ She stated that Curtice was stiff with blue lips. When she tried to wake him up he would not wake up,” the report said. “She then called 911.”

Police confirmed an ambulance was dispatched to the coroner’s office.

FBI and drug-sniffing dog

Because Curtice is an elected official, Yakima police called in the FBI for assistance to determine which agency should lead the investigation, the report said, and the FBI advised conducting a joint investigation in case federal charges were warranted.

FBI and Police Department detectives brought a drug-sniffing dog on Aug. 29 to search the coroner’s office with Curtice’s permission. Curtice said the only drugs in the building were a fentanyl pill and residue inside a blender that was used to destroy drugs in the autopsy room.

The dog from the Pasco Police Department signaled the presence of drugs in the autopsy room and had a “change in behavior” in Curtice’s office that the detectives at first attributed to Curtice’s cadaver dog being in the room previously, the report said.

Detectives also found powder on a work desk in the office that was taken into evidence, the report said.

Under additional questioning, Curtice said he had two theories as to how he might have been drugged: The one was someone in the “drug world” was mad at him and managed to get into his office, according to the report, which he admitted “does not really make any sense.”

The other theory, he said, was someone who had both access to his office and something to gain spiked his energy drink in hopes of getting Curtice in trouble with the police and having it reported in the news media, the report said.

Polygraph test

On Sept. 12, Yakima Police Department detectives arranged for Curtice to take a polygraph test, and the results showed evidence of deception, according to the police report. Polygraph results are inadmissible in court, but detectives will use them as an investigative tool in some cases.

After being told he failed the lie detector test, Curtice waived his right to remain silent and have a lawyer present and, after initially trying to convince detectives he didn’t use drugs, admitted to using drugs three times a week for the past several months in his office, the police report said.

When police asked where he obtained the drugs, “he stated he takes the drugs off deceased bodies in the course of his duties as the Yakima County Coroner,” the report said.

Curtice also admitted to mixing drugs with his workout powder for the test and spiking his tea kettle to bolster his claim of being poisoned, the report said.

He apologized to police for wasting their time.