Funeral director gets 5 years in body parts scheme

[June 02, 2009]  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A former New Jersey funeral director has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a ring that illegally harvested body parts.

Stephen Finley pleaded guilty in February to desecrating human remains and was sentenced Monday. Prosecutors say he and former Fort Lee oral surgeon Michael Mastromarino allowed the removal of body parts from about 40 corpses without permission.

Finley allegedly received $1,000 per body in the multistate ring. The sometimes-diseased parts were sold and used in surgical procedures.

Mastromarino, considered the mastermind of the scheme, is serving a prison sentence of 18 to 54 years.

[Associated Press]

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