X-Message-Number: 22548
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:25:24 -0400
From: 
Subject: Alcor Almost-Daily News

>EX-EXEC files claim against cryonics firm - Arizona Republic, AZ
><http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0919alcorsuit19.html>

Ex-exec files claim against cryonics firm

Says director defamed him

Peter Corbett
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 19, 2003 12:00 AM

A former executive who alleged that a Scottsdale cryonics company 
mishandled the remains of baseball legend Ted Williams is alleging that the 
firm's director defamed him last month.

Larry Johnson, former Alcor chief operations officer, in a lawsuit 
counterclaim obtained Thursday, alleges that Alcor Director Carlos 
Mondragon falsely accused him of committing theft, fraud and breach of 
confidentiality.

The claim alleges that Alcor retaliated against Johnson for legally 
protected whistleblower activities, in which he told his bosses the company 
was mishandling hazardous medical waste by dumping it down a sewer. 
Inspections by Rural/Metro Fire Department and by the Arizona Department of 
Environmental Quality found no violations.

Alcor filed a lawsuit against Johnson in Maricopa County Superior Court on 
Aug. 22. Alcor alleged that Johnson violated a confidentiality agreement, 
breached his financial duty and stole intellectual and real property from 
the company.

In his response, Johnson denies those charges.

The legal battle erupted after Johnson resigned from Alcor following a 
Sports Illustrated story published online on Aug. 12. Johnson was the 
source of allegations that Alcor had mishandled Williams' body, causing at 
least 10 cracks in his severed head, that DNA samples of the former Boston 
Red Sox slugger were missing and that Williams had never signed an 
agreement to be cryogenically frozen.

Alcor, based in the Scottsdale Airpark, is preserving the remains of 58 
people in the hope that medical science will someday bring them back to life.

Williams' remains have been at Alcor since his death July 5, 2002. Many 
friends and his oldest daughter want Williams' remains removed from Alcor 
so he can be cremated and his ashes spread off the Florida Keys.

Johnson's decision to go to Sports Illustrated with an insider's story on 
Alcor touched off a media frenzy.

Alcor responded at an Aug. 13 news conference, in which Mondragon accused 
Johnson of taking a company cellphone, laptop computer and documents.

Johnson has moved out of state. His attorney, Jim Belanger of Lewis & Roca, 
said, "Larry very much believes in what he is doing and he intends to see 
this through to the end."

Mondragon would only say that Alcor "will continue to pursue all our legal 
options" against Johnson.

In Johnson's complaint, he alleges that Alcor has violated the Fair Labor 
Standards Act by withholding his final paycheck.

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