Incumbent, former deputy seek Republican nomination for Westmoreland coroner

Westmoreland County Coroner Tim Carson and his Republican challenger worked together in the office for about two months in early 2022.

Now, three years later, former Deputy Coroner John Ackerman wants Carson’s job.

Carson said the changes and upgrades he instituted during his first term in office warrant his reelection for another four years.

“What we’ve done in 3¹⁄₂ years is worth another term. My opponent had every opportunity to enact these things when he worked here under his former boss,” Carson said.

Ackerman suggested his decades of experience and hands-on work as a deputy to former Coroner Ken Bacha — which included operating the department’s now-defunct human remains detection program — makes him a better choice to run the office.

“I have all these years of experience and training. He doesn’t have the experience and knowledge in terms of doing the investigations,” Ackerman said.

Carson and Ackerman are seeking the Republican nomination for coroner. No Democrats will appear on the May 20 primary ballot.

Carson, 55, of East Huntingdon has had a long career in county government, working for about a decade as a sergeant in the Sheriff’s Office and chief deputy to former Register of Wills Earl Keim. A longtime Democrat, Carson also served as Scottdale mayor before he switched political parties in 2012. He continues to run a restaurant and catering business in Scottdale.

Carson defeated five-term incumbent Coroner Ken Bacha, a Democrat, in 2021.

Almost immediately after taking office, Carson instituted changes, including ending the office’s contract with private pathologist Cyril Wecht, who had performed autopsies for Westmoreland coroners for decades. Wecht died two years later.

Carson also touted initiatives to bury unclaimed remains and newly formed partnerships with nonprofit organizations that promote organ donation, provide cribs to underserved communities and offer suicide counseling.

He touted cost-saving programs, such as limiting autopsies for drug overdose victims in cases that do not result in criminal investigations and terminating the coroner’s human remains detection program, a canine unit that was run by Ackerman.

“We do our due diligence and talked to the police and the district attorney to see if there are no charges (in an overdose death), then we don’t do an autopsy. If there is a 0.1% chance of charges, we will do an autopsy,” Carson said, estimating the change has saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It’s a huge savings.”

The Coroner’s Office last year conducted more than 3,000 death investigations and performed 118 autopsies.

Ackerman, 68, of Hempfield said he participated in more than 9,000 death investigations and 500 autopsies during his tenure from 2002 until he retired in 2022. He trained and oversaw the canine program until it was terminated by Carson.

Ackerman continues to volunteer, along with his dog, Rio, with state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as local first responders while also working as a part-time police officer in Southwest Greensburg and as a volunteer firefighter.

As coroner, he said, he would expand community relations and restore the canine program.

“I miss doing the job, and I had been involved in the Coroner’s Office all my life,” Ackerman said. “He (Carson) is trying to do his best, but he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”