MIAMI (AP) — State officials seized 19 bodies at an illegal crematorium Friday and arrested the operator, who is already under investigation for a scheme in which mortuary students allegedly embalmed corpses without the consent of family members.
Investigators with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulations found the bodies at Oakwood Cremation Services in Miami. Officials said one body was being incinerated when they arrived.
Police arrested Joseph Damiano, 65, the owner of a company that transports corpses. He was charged operating an incinerator without a license. Damiano was jailed on $500 bail.
The department recently conducted a sweep of all crematoriums in the state to assure that they were properly licensed. It was begun after about 340 bodies were discovered dumped near a Georgia crematorium.