Former crematory operator pleads to dumping bodies

<p>Former crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh pleaded guilty Friday to dumping 334 bodies and giving the families of the deceased cement dust instead of ashes.</p><p>Marsh entered the pleas to 787 counts against him, including theft, abuse of a corpse, burial service fraud and making false statements.</p><p>"To those of you who may have come here today looking for answers, I cannot give you," Marsh told the family members in the courtroom. "To those of you I have hurt, I apologize."</p><p>In exchange for the guilty pleas, he is expected to receive a sentence that requires him to serve no more than 12 years in prison. The prison term will be followed by a lengthy probation that could last the rest of the 31-year-old's life.</p><p>As part of the deal, Marsh is expected to be fined $20,000 and will not be allowed to profit from the case. He also will write letters of apology to the victims' families and the community.</p><p>A sentencing hearing will be held Jan. 31 and could last several days to allow for the victims' families to testify.</p><p>Marsh allegedly stopped performing cremations at the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Ga., in 1997, when he took over the family business that served funeral homes in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama.</p><p>After an anonymous tip in February 2002, investigators found bodies scattered on the crematory property _ in the woods, in buildings and crammed into burial vaults and behind Marsh's house.</p><p>Teri Crawford's brother was supposed to have been cremated at Tri-State in 2001 after he died of cancer. She said Marsh's apology disappointed her.</p><p>"It was halfhearted and it was more to his family than to the rest of us," she said. "He has a sentence of 12 years. I will be tormented for the rest of my life wondering what happened to my brother."</p><p>Judge James Bodiford said he will wait to officially accept the plea deal until after the sentencing hearing.</p><p>"I will keep an open mind," Bodiford said.</p><p>Last month, a federal judge approved an $80 million settlement of a lawsuit by victims' relatives against Marsh. It's unclear how much of that money will be paid. In March, several dozen funeral homes that sent corpses to the crematory settled a class-action lawsuit against them for roughly $36 million. Much of that money has been paid.</p>

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