FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A former Texas funeral home operator has been sentenced to two years in state jail for accepting money to do cremations but never processing the remains.
Deondre Johnson of Arlington was sentenced Thursday. The former co-owner of Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth was also fined $10,000.
A jury on Wednesday convicted Johnson of two felony theft counts related to decayed bodies found when the mortuary closed in 2014 for not paying rent. Investigators who went through the closed mortuary found several bodies in advanced stages of decomposition.
Johnson awaits trial on abuse of corpse charges.
His wife, co-owner Rachel Hardy-Johnson, pleaded guilty in January to food stamp fraud. She’s serving nearly two years in federal prison. She awaits trial on state charges of theft and abuse of a corpse.