"Air Force mortuary official resigns; Was at center of corpse mutilation scandal at Dover" By Craig Whitlock | Washington Post, March 03, 2012
WASHINGTON - A mortuary supervisor at the heart of the Dover Air Force Base scandals has resigned, sparing the Pentagon from a decision on whether to fire him for allegedly lying to investigators, mutilating a corpse, and retaliating against whistle-blowers.
Quinton “Randy’’ Keel, 44, formerly the Dover mortuary’s division director, cleaned out his desk at the base Monday after he tendered his resignation, according to officials familiar with the case.
An Air Force spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel John L. Dorrian, confirmed that Keel was no longer employed by the Air Force but declined to comment further.
Keel, of Felton, Del., did not respond to phone messages this week seeking comment.
He was one of three supervisors at Dover whom the Air Force in November accused of “gross mismanagement’’ at the military’s primary mortuary for handling America’s war dead. An 18-month investigation, spurred by whistle-blowers who worked for Keel, documented instances of missing body parts and the sloppy handling of human remains, among other problems.
Same with 9/11 victims.
Investigators from an independent agency, the Office of Special Counsel, found that Keel had tried to fire two of the whistle-blowers. In November, it accused him of “a pattern of negligence, misconduct, and dishonesty.’’ The office, which handles federal whistleblower complaints, also accused the Air Force of a “failure to acknowledge culpability for wrongdoing relating to the treatment of remains.’’
We are talking the AmeriKan military, right?
In response, senior Air Force officials stripped Keel of his title. They then transferred him to another management job at Dover created for him, angering the Office of Special Counsel, members of Congress, and veterans’ groups which said he should have been fired.
What is this, the Catholic Church moving pedophile priests?
At the time, senior Air Force leaders defended their actions. General Norton A. Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, said the Dover supervisors did not intentionally commit wrongdoing. “This wasn’t a deliberate act, in my personal view,’’ he told reporters.
Investigators found that Keel ordered an embalmer to saw off the arm bone of Sergeant Daniel Angus, a Marine killed in Iraq, so he could fit in his dress uniform in a casket. Keel overruled objections from mortuary workers that such an act amounted to mutilation and that they lacked permission from the Marine’s family.
Angus’s parents, Kathy and William Angus of Thonotosassa, Fla., remain frustrated with the Air Force’s handling of the scandals at Dover, according to their attorney, Mark J. O’Brien of Tampa.
“They would have preferred that Mr. Keel have been fired months ago, but they are certainly not upset at the news that he resigned,’’ O’Brien said in an e-mail. “However, if nothing else happens in this matter except for one of the major players involved in this cover-up being allowed to resign in lieu of being fired, then the Angus family will not be - nor will they ever be - satisfied.’’
James G. Parsons Sr., a mortuary technician who had objected to Keel’s orders to saw off the Marine’s arm, was subsequently fired by Keel after he filed a whistle-blower complaint about that and other problems at Dover. Parsons was reinstated after the Office of Special Counsel intervened.
Yesterday, Parsons said he was disappointed that Keel was allowed to resign instead of being terminated.
The two other supervisors, former mortuary commander Colonel Robert H. Edmondson and his civilian deputy, Trevor Dean, were disciplined but also did not lose their jobs.
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Related: Worship War Day: Graveside Visit
Air Force investigates airmen casket photo
VA finds problems with 123 gravesites at its cemeteries
Report on Arlington graves is mixed
Also see: A Trip Through Arlington
