Ralph Erdmann

Ralph R. Erdmann (August 8, 1926 - July 23, 2010) was a contract medical examiner (forensic pathologist) who was convicted on several counts of evidence tampering and perjury for examinations he did beginning in the early 1980s throughout rural Texas.

Early years in Texas In 1981, 25 years after receiving a medical degree in Mexico Erdmann moved to Childress, Childress County, Texas. He started doing autopsies for five small area hospitals on a private contract basis. In 1983 he expanded his practice to the entire Texas panhandle area to the Rio Grande. and the smaller counties paid him $650

Convictions

He pleaded no contest to seven felony charges. He was sentenced to 10 years probation, 200 hours of community service and fined $17,000 for botched autopsies and exhumation expenses. He also surrendered his medical license and moved to Washington state.

Teacher's assistant In 1994, after he moved to Washington State, he found work as a teacher's assistant for special education in the Lake Washington School District. He worked 86 days at Rose Hill Junior High School and 32 days as a school-bus assistant.