Judge fines Arkansas funeral home in corpse-stacking case

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A judge has handed down a $50,000 fine to a central Arkansas funeral home where bodies were found stacked on top of each other in unrefrigerated areas.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1VgYw2j ) that Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza levied the fine Tuesday against Arkansas Funeral Care. Last month, prosecutors agreed to drop charges against the funeral home's owners and instead charged the company. The business then pleaded guilty to five felony counts of abuse of a corpse.

A state agency pulled the funeral home's license last year after investigating complaints by a former employee at the business and finding a cooler "filled beyond capacity with bodies" and bodies "stacked on top of each other." Investigators removed 31 bodies and 22 sets of cremated remains from the premises.

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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com