Ex-crematory operator to be sentenced

LA FAYETTE, Ga., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A sentencing hearing begins Monday for a former Georgia crematory operator who failed to cremate 334 corpses.

Ray Brent Marsh pleaded guilty to several felonies, including fraud, theft, abuse of a corpse and making false statements. The bodies were found three years ago, strewn about Marsh's Tri-State Crematory in La Fayette, Ga., about 100 miles northwest of Atlanta.

Superior Court Judge James Bodiford said Marsh will be sentenced at the end of the hearing that will run for "as long as it takes" for the families to have their say, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday.

The plea bargain calls for Marsh to receive a 75-year prison sentence, of which he would serve 12 years, making him eligible to be considered for parole in about four years.

Marsh, who ran the business he inherited from his father from 1997 to 2002, has never said why he failed to cremate the bodies.