PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

Okay I'm sure by now everyone has seen the news about the Georgia Crematorium that was taking money for cremations but instead of actually doing them they were throwing the bodies of the deceased out back in shelters and the woods.  I'm also pretty sure that most will agree that this is utterly horrible.

My question is (since I haven't heard anything and am not aware of the sentencing guidelines) what type of sentence do you think the crematorium owner should get for this crime?

I think it is horrible!  I really have no idea what the punishment should be, but it does make me wonder how they got away with it.  I mean, what about the ashes?  I know a lot of people (including me) who spread their loved one's remains over a favorite place.


Ellen (totally disgusted) in TX

If you ask me, I can't think of a severe-enough punishment to give this guy for his morbid actions.  It turns my stomach that he would decieve the families and treat their deceased loved ones in such a horrific manner.  

For starters, he should be out there with the detectives by helping to gather and identify the bodies.  Then, he needs to stand and face all of the families and LISTEN to all them and their pain of how he decieved them.  I don' t know what else, but that's a good start.  

SNA

Really though, I wonder, what laws were broken?  And you have to remember that many horrific things aren't against a specific law 'cause nobody every imagined they would need a law against them....

So, we probably have theft by deception in some form or another, and maybe something for improperly disposing of a corpse (which is generally a "minor" crime, since it's usually done by people who either don't know any better, or are too off balance to do the proper thing...).  Plus, it would seem that this had been going on for years before the current owner was in charge, so he'll probably dodge most charges.

Sad.

There are no laws againt desicrating bodies in Georgia.  They are charging the current owner with theft by deception which carries up to a 15yr sentence for each count.  At my last check they've charged him with 7 counts.  The previous owner was this guy's father, though they havn't charge the father with anything yet.


Ellen in TX

I read about this in a news article on CNN.com.  It quoted him as saying that the furnace hadn't worked in a long time.  They found out that he had been giving people dry cement in place of their loved ones ashes.

JusPeachy

Also, it says that the father lived on the premises and that the son didn't live to far away.  Wouldn't the stench of the decomposing bodies be pretty awful on the site?  How long had the furnace not been working?  Judging from the number of bodies - a good long time.

The whole thing is just awful.

Last Tuesday, I heard a report stating that the furnace/incinerator was indeed in working order, and that the actual cost of cremating one body is $25. (And I live in Georgia.)

Deskdemon Forum Board Staff

Edited by bethanial on 11/03/02 05:42 PM.

I heard that the mother and sister had been arrested, also.  Apparently, the father is bed ridden.  I'm thinking he had to know what was going on, though.    

JusPeachy