FBI agent Bradley Orsini is a lead investigator in the federal prosecution of former coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht. Defense attorneys want to use the agent's history described in his FBI disciplinary file to question his credibility in the Wecht case.

Wecht, the former Allegheny County medical examiner, is charged with theft, mail fraud and wire fraud in the alleged unlawful use of his public office for private financial gain.

Wecht's lawyers have alleged Orsini has a bad reputation within the FBI.

The unsealed court documents reveal that the FBI has disciplined Orsini twice before coming to Pittsburgh.

In 1998, he received a five-day suspension for signing other agents' names on evidence reports involving seized drugs and money.

In 2001, the FBI, demoted Orsini, suspended him for 30 days without pay, placed him on 12 months probation and ordered to undergo mandatory sensitivity training.

In that discipline report, the FBI found that over the years, Orsini had failed to follow search guidelines, falsified official documents, engaged in an improper relationship with a female subordinate FBI agent whom he gave a pet collar as a gag Christmas gift, threatened physical assault of a subordinate, damaged government property by punching holes in walls and throwing chairs and made unprofessional and insensitive remarks on numerous occasions concerning sexual orientation.

That involved, among other things, using a bullhorn at FBI offices to call out "all homosexuals, come out of your offices."

The special agent in charge of the FBI Pittsburgh division said the documents show Orsini's past poor judgment while working for the FBI in New Jersey, but that it doesn't harm his work in the Wecht case.

U.S. attorney Mary Beth Buchanan and Wecht's defense attorneys are not commenting on the contents of Orsini's FBI disciplinary files.

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