PITTSBURGH -- The first witness in the fraud trial of celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht answered questions Tuesday about federal prosecutors' most salacious accusation - that Wecht illegally traded cadavers from the county morgue for free lab space at a local college.

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Edward Strimlan, assistant chief deputy coroner under Wecht, was called by prosecutors trying to show that Wecht committed a crime in giving bodies to Carlow College.

Wecht's attorneys, in their cross-examination of Strimlan on Tuesday, tried to show that the college still supports Wecht and that Strimlan himself engaged in the kinds of activities that led to the charges against his former boss.

Wecht, who has led inquiries into the deaths of Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Vincent Foster among others, is accused of using his government staff as bookkeepers, secretaries, couriers and gofers for his family and his private pathology practice.

Prosecutors said Wecht, 76, illegally used the county workers to cut costs in his private practice, which grossed nearly $9 million from 1997 through 2004. He never made more than $64,000 a year as county coroner.

Strimlan on Tuesday testified about records that showed a cadaver was sent from the county morgue to Carlow and dissected, even after the body had been claimed by a relative.

By law, Wecht had the power as Allegheny County's coroner to donate unclaimed morgue bodies to science. But prosecutors allege Wecht skirted those rules in sending cadavers to the college.

Strimlan didn't back off his testimony about the cadaver records when he was cross-examined by Wecht attorney Jerry McDevitt. But Strimlan, who also teaches at Carlow, said Wecht continues to teach at the school and conduct autopsies there - even though the county stopped donating bodies after Wecht was indicted and resigned as coroner in January 2006.

"They haven't kicked him out?" McDevitt asked, referring to Carlow.

"No, sir," Strimlan said.

On the stand, Strimlan discussed county records that showed that a man who died of natural causes was not autopsied in November 2005. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Stallings has told the jury he will prove the body was autopsied at Carlow before it was delivered to a funeral home two days after the man died.

Prosecutors contend the Carlow autopsy was purposely not recorded in county records.

McDevitt on Tuesday also attacked Strimlan's credibility, noting that he listed different dates for his medical training on resumes and job applications with the coroner's office, Carlow and another college where he teaches. Strimlan has worked for the county since 1990 and continues to work in what is now called the County Medical Examiner's Office.

Under questioning by McDevitt, Strimlan also admitted that he developed a private business with another deputy coroner selling death-themed novelty T-shirts, some with the coroner's office logo, that were called "reaper wear."

Strimlan said federal authorities told him they were "not interested" in information that he did private work at the government office, even though McDevitt noted that's essentially the allegation against Wecht.

Strimlan said the business considered producing a football jersey with Wecht's name on the back bearing the number 84 - the original number of counts Wecht faced before prosecutors dropped more than half the counts in the grand jury indictment.

That project never developed, Strimlan said.

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