Citing death certificate records, the paper reported that members of the Marsh family signed their names as funeral directors on Walker County death certificates without being licensed.
Authorities believe at least 293 corpses taken to the Tri-State Crematory in Noble for cremation were instead dumped in garages, vaults or the woods. The operator, Ray Brent Marsh, is charged with 16 counts of theft by deception.
On three occasions between 1992 and 1995, either crematory founder Ray Marsh or his daughter, Rhames Marsh, signed Walker County Health Department death certificates listing themselves as funeral director, records show.
Ray Marsh turned the crematory over to his son, Ray Brent Marsh, in 1996.
Neither Ray nor Rhames Marsh was licensed as a funeral director in Georgia during that period, according to Kara Sinkule of the secretary of state's office.
A person not licensed as a funeral director but who contracts directly with a family and accepts and disposes of a dead human body without the direction or supervision of a funeral director is violating Georgia law, according to Russ Willard of the attorney general's office.
Pat Collins, office services supervisor for the Georgia Department of Vital Statistics, told the newspaper that death certificates are processed by the first person who takes custody of the body.
In most cases, that is a funeral director, Collins said. The funeral director lists the state of the body, and a certified physician or coroner declares how the person died, he said.
The death certificate then is taken to a local extension of the state Vital Statistics Department, where it is signed by an agent of the department. The local department then sends the form to the state, which issues a final and formal Certificate of Death.
There is no provision, however, for ensuring whether the funeral director who signs the certificate is licensed. Collins said the state does not cross-check to see if the funeral director has a current license.
``Most of the time, our local registrars know the directors in the area,'' Collins said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/198367