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Three people charged in crematorium case |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Thursday, 30 June 2005 |
By Beverley Wang, Associated Press Writer
June 30, 2005
HAMPTON, N.H. --Three people were charged Thursday in an investigation into an unlicensed crematorium where unidentified remains were found.
Authorities have been investigating the Bayview Crematory in Seabrook since February, when allegations were made that the facility mishandled remains.
Derek Wallace of Salisbury, Mass., who authorities said ran the business, was charged with two counts of theft by deception, a felony, accused of accepting money for cremations he knew would not be done according to state law, prosecutors said.
Wallace also was charged with abuse of a corpse, a misdemeanor, meaning he allowed a cremation to take place without first getting a certificate from the New Hampshire medical examiner.
James Fuller of Seabrook, a Bayview employee who said he handled some of the cremations, was charged with abuse of a corpse and two counts of fraudulent handling of documents, a felony. He is accused of falsifying a medical examiner's form that approves a cremation. Fuller told police he created blank certificates bearing a medical examiner's photocopied signature, according to court documents.
Thomas Reid, deputy county attorney, was asked if there was evidence Fuller was paid for allegedly falsifying the documents.
"Why he did it? We don't have to prove that with the allegations that we have so far, simply that he did it," Reid said.
More charges are possible in New Hampshire and probably in Massachusetts, Reid said.
The men were arraigned in Hampton District Court.
Dr. Putnam Breed of Hampton Falls, a Massachusetts district medical examiner, was charged with two counts of fraudulent handling of documents and one count of theft by deception. Investigators said that Breed signed off on cremations without viewing the bodies and falsified cremation certificates.
"This is the beginning of the case, certainly not the end of it," Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said. "It's not the end of charges that we're going to file, and I don't believe the end of the defendants we're going to be filing charges against. But we finished going through those thousands of files that we took in February, and it was time to start filing charges."
Authorities began investigating the crematorium after another investigation into two medical examiners who were accused of scheming to monopolize the certification of cremations in the state.
They found a dozen sets of remains without identification, two bodies in the same oven and a decomposing body in a broken refrigeration unit. Reams has said four sets of remains may never be identified.
More recently, New Hampshire and Massachusetts state police raided the two Massachusetts funeral homes owned or partly owned by Wallace. They also raided Wallace's home and the home of his mother and stepfather, who now own Bayview.
Families whose relatives were cremated at Bayview have filed several lawsuits against the unlicensed crematorium and funeral homes that used it.
Earlier this month, Wallace's lawyer said police had no evidence that he committed any crimes at the crematorium or at two Massachusetts funeral homes he owns.
Scott Gleason blamed authorities for creating mass hysteria among people who fear they didn't get their loved one's remains.
Wallace, whose Massachusetts funeral director's license was suspended for five years last August, is fighting the suspension in court and continues to operate Hart-Wallace Funeral Home in Lawrence and Simplicity Burial & Cremation in Salisbury.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/06/30/3_people_facing_charges_in_crematorium_case/ |
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