PASADENA : Charge Against Ex-Funeral Home Operator Dropped

A judge has dropped a conspiracy charge against a former funeral home operator and scheduled a hearing next month for Jerry Sconce and his wife on six other charges.

Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling dropped the charge of conspiracy to mutilate gold teeth and ordered Sconce and his wife, Laurieanne Lamb Sconce, to return to court Aug. 7.

The couple face three counts each of forgery and wrongful removal of body parts. The judge will decide at the hearing whether to begin a second trial against the Sconces. The Sconces were arrested along with their son, David Sconce, in 1987 and charged initially with 68 counts of conducting mass cremations, mixing ashes and extracting dental gold from bodies. By the time trial started, however, the couple faced only nine counts. The elder Sconces were acquitted last month on charges of multiple cremation of human remains and comingling of human remains.