US investigators seize 19 bodies

US officials have seized 19 bodies at an illegal crematorium and arrested the operator, who is already under investigation for a scheme in which mortuary students allegedly embalmed corpses without the consent of family members.

Investigators with the Florida state Department of Business and Professional Regulations found the bodies yesterday at Oakwood Cremation Services in Miami. Officials said one body was being incinerated when they arrived.

Police arrested Joseph Damiano, 65, the owner of a company that transports corpses. He was charged operating an incinerator without a license.

The department recently conducted a sweep of all crematoriums in the state to assure that they were properly licensed. It was begun after about 340 bodies were discovered dumped near a Georgia crematorium.

‘‘There was no person on site appropriately licensed to oversee the facility,’’ said Lonnie Parizek, a department spokeswoman.

Damiano is being investigated for allegedly taking bodies to Lynn University in Boca Raton for embalming by the school’s mortuary science students without the families’ permission.

Neighbours of the crematorium said they had suspected that something was amiss inside the nondescript white building.

‘‘They have been burning bodies in there for at least four years and only now the cops are finding out about it,’’ said Robert Williams, a construction worker who has lived nearby for 11 years.

‘‘On many occasions I have seen smoke coming out of that building. Everybody in the neighbourhood knew about it.’’