A medical examiner investigator who admitted to stealing from the dead is now the focus of a criminal probe, San Francisco police confirmed Wednesday.
Anthony Marchini, who investigated deaths in San Francisco for five years, confessed to the thefts while taking a lie detector test for a background check last October, The Standard previously reported. He was immediately stripped of his badge and put on leave and resigned soon after.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office referred the allegations on Jan. 19 to SFPD, which assigned the case to its Special Investigations Division, police confirmed for the first time Wednesday.
“This is an open and active investigation,” SFPD spokesperson Sgt. Adam Lobsinger told The Standard in an email. “We cannot comment further.”
The allegations could have implications for criminal cases involving death scenes Marchini investigated. While the District Attorney’s Office says it has no reason to believe his conduct impacted any cases, the Public Defender’s Office has concerns.
In a two-hour polygraph test on Oct. 22, 2022, Marchini at first tried to fool the exam, according to court records obtained by The Standard, which say he eventually broke down and admitted to wrongdoing.
“Stealing money was an accident,” Marchini said, according to the records.
What he stole, when he stole it and who he stole it from is unclear.
Marchini joined the office as an entry-level aide in August 2013. He was promoted to investigator in April 2017 and began examining death scenes, writing reports on cause and manner of death and contacting next of kin.
Marchini did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has long been dogged by scandals and struggled in recent years to meet national accreditation standards.
The most recent controversy came in 2020 when a lab analyst named Justin Volk was accused of pilfering methamphetamine from the evidence room.
Despite the issues, the office secured accreditation in December.