Seven People Accused Of Illegally Removing Body Parts From Corpses

Thursday, May 17th 2007, 5:18 pm

By: News On 6

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Three funeral home directors and four former employees of a biomedical supply company have been indicted for allegedly removing skin, bone and other body parts from corpses awaiting cremation at a New York funeral home.

An indictment unsealed today charges the seven with body stealing, unlawful dissection and other counts. The most serious charges carry maximum 20-year prison sentences.

Four of those charged worked at a suburban Rochester, New York, branch of now-defunct Biomedical Tissue Services.

Four other men, including the company's owner, were charged last year with removing bone and tissue from more than one-thousand bodies at funeral homes without the permission of families.

Prosecutors say the owner made millions by selling body parts to biomedical companies.