A central Pennsylvania funeral director has been sentenced to additional prison time on convictions of abusing corpses.
Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker sentenced 42-year-old Benjamin Siar Jr. earlier this month to five to 10 years on theft and deceptive business practices and ordered him to pay $160,000 restitution.
Lancaster Newspapers reports that the judge imposed an additional one to four years Wednesday on four counts of abuse of a corpse.
Defense attorney Alan Goldberg said the sentence was longer than he expected but didn't know whether an appeal was planned.
Siar has been behind bars since February 2013 following the discovery of four decomposing bodies inside Gundel Funeral Home in Conestoga. Prosecutors said he was paid more than $13,000 for funeral and cremation services that weren't performed.
According to the paper, Siar admitted his business was in financial trouble, but that “there was never any malice, never did I say ‘Let’s just put this body here and forget about it.’”
