Thank you to taphophilia.com for the following update:
A former funeral director in suburban Rochester was convicted Friday of removing body parts without permission from 17 corpses.
Jason Gano, 32, was the first of seven people to stand trial here on charges of illegally dissecting skin, bone and other parts from three dozen bodies being prepared for cremation at three Rochester-area funeral homes in 2005. During a monthlong trial, the defense argued that an unscrupulous biomedical company in New Jersey run by Michael Mastromarino sent Gano forged documents indicating relatives had given their consent. But prosecutors countered that Gano systematically allowed Mastromarino’s employees to loot bodies without permission.
After two days of deliberations, a jury found Gano guilty of illegal-harvesting charges relating to 17 of 23 corpses from which body parts were turned over to Fort Lee, N.J.-based Biomedical Tissue Services. He could draw up to 10 years to 20 years in prison at sentencing on Jan. 16.
Biomedical Tissue Services operated its only satellite office in the Rochester suburb of Brighton and paid funeral homes a standard fee of about $1,000 to lawfully harvest body parts from a donor corpse.
Harvesting body parts without permission is also illegal in the state of Florida. Criminal charges may be brought along with civil claims for tortious interference with a dead body. If your loved one has been wrongfully buried or cremated be sure to contact a funeral home mistake attorney as soon as possible.