# Worst Crematorium operator EVER finally sentenced **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837 "2004-11-20T16:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/1 "2004-11-20T16:31:07Z")
[Ray Brent Marsh,](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=3&u=/latimests/20041120/ts_latimes/georgiacrematoryoperatorapologizesoffersnoexcuse) facing a possible 8,000 year prison sentence, settled for 12 with a chance for parole at 4. I remember some stories at the time suggesting there was some kind of unrepaired equipment breakdown, but apparently not. He’d just get behind sometimes and dump the overload. I don’t really get it, wouldn’t it be MORE trouble to haul the bodies around than to incinerate them? Maybe it was a time issue. Anyone know how long a cremation takes? Even at that it would seem he could cram a few bodies together and cremate them as a group more easily than dumping out in a lake. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/2 "2004-11-20T16:36:07Z")
All I know is that plenty of people in Georgia & Tennessee think he’s pretty damn luck to live long enough to make it to a cell. There’s a whole heap o dislike for that man, around here. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/3 "2004-11-20T16:43:33Z")
FYI… there is already a [thread in the Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=287588) about this subject. ---
**Author:** ![melondeca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@melondeca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melondeca)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/4 "2004-11-20T16:53:42Z")
This may sound like a stupid question, but what did they charge him with? I found an old (2002) CNN article that said Marsh was being charged with “fraud and theft by deception”. I am not sure if those charges still stand or if they came up with some new ways to charge him. Fraud and theft just don’t seem to cover the severity of his crimes. I know it isn’t murder because he didn’t actually kill anyone but come on; families trusted him with the bodies of loved ones and he just dumps them into the woods. If I was one of those families, I would want him to spend more than twelve years in prison but maybe I am just being cranky today. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/5 "2004-11-20T17:13:33Z")
[According to this WDEF story:](http://www.wdef.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WDEF/MGArticle/DEF_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031779248024&path=) > [@](#): > > Marsh plead guilty to failure to bury, making false statements, theft and abuse of a corpse. Another story I saw said there were more than 700 counts. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-crematorium-operator-ever-finally-sentenced/275837/6 "2004-11-20T17:25:16Z")
It would not apply in this case, but most states have a law against “Violating a Sepulcher.” I just think that sounds cool. “What ya in for, kid?” “Violating a sepulcher, don’t mess with me!”