NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Vic Lineweaver is well-known in town as a consummate politician, appearing often in parades and city events. But some families believe the juvenile court clerk's politicking is going too far -- during the time taxpayers pay him to be in the office.

Watch This Story

To ease the pain of losing his wife, Arlene, to cancer, Sam Meek looked at the guest book from her visitation to reflect on all of their closest friends and family who attended the service.

But when he saw one name, he said, his sadness turned to anger.

"This has got to be the ultimate in a invasion of a person's privacy," Meek said.

Ed Davis discovered the same signature when he looked over his deceased son's visitation guest book.

"I think it's just a very disrespectful thing to do to families in a time of grief," said Davis, who has a relative by marriage to one of Lineweaver's opponents but did not contact the I-Team for this story.

And the Channel 4 I-Team found Lineweaver's signature again, and again, and again in the visitation guest books of strangers.

Meek said he doesn't know Lineweaver. Neither, he said, did his wife or friends.

"All I know is what I've seen on TV," he said.

What further perplexed these families is that when Lineweaver showed up, they said, he never even talked to them or their families.

"Why did he bother coming to sign the book?" Davis said. "He never came in to visit. He only signed the book and left."

"Why would you go to funerals or visitations of people you don't even know and don't even know any of the family? Why would you do that?" Meek said.

After Lineweaver's arrest for losing court files, and after the I-Team's investigation showing him not in the office half of the time during the seven days it watched the court clerk, Lineweaver still went to some of these strangers' visitations during work hours.

Harris' son's visitation was on a Wednesday. When the family arrived at 11 a.m., Lineweaver's signature was already in the book.

"I think he should be at work doing what he's supposed to be doing and what Metro pays him to do, not traveling around from funeral home to funeral home, signing books," said Davis.

These families said they think they know why he does this. With Lineweaver's election next year and years of controversy behind him, they believe he's banking on name recognition.

"If enough people see it, if they see it on the ballot, I think they'll pick that name," Davis said. "It's a self-serving political agenda."

Meek became so angry he called the funeral home to say how upset he was.

"And the lady said, 'Well, I understand how you feel. He does that all the time,'" said Meek.

Lineweaver's only job is to maintain juvenile case files in the office.

"Maybe I need to be there and attentive more often. So I'm probably going to change that," Lineweaver said in a previous I-Team investigation in February 2008.

The I-Team followed Lineweaver for another set of random days. Over the course of five days, the I-Team found him showing up at the office at noon, at 12:49 p.m., again at noon, at 1:48 p.m. and at 10:30 a.m.

On the Friday when he went into the office at 1:48 p.m., he left before 6 p.m.

The I-Team went to Lineweaver's office while he was inside, but no one answered the door. He called reporter Jeremy Finley's cell phone but refused to go outside and do an interview.

He called back and gave a statement, saying that for 30 years, he's gone to strangers' visitations to sign guest books if they're in the military, a Mason or in the Church of Christ.

But in five cases documented in this story, none was in the military, a Mason or a member of the Church of Christ.

"I apologize to the families, and I've given you my statement," Lineweaver said to Finley.