Crematory Allowed to Stay Open Despite Grisly Discovery

A Los Angeles crematory has been allowed to remain open despite the recent grisly discovery of at least 24 non-refrigerated, decomposing human bodies stacked in the hallways of the East Pico Boulevard business, officials said Thursday.

“This is outrageous,” said state Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles). “The company was already on probation, and now we find out they are violating every fundamental rule of human decency. And the judge doesn’t shut them down? These are human beings we are talking about.”

Administrative Law Judge H. Stuart Waxman issued an interim suspension of the Heritage Alternatives Crematory’s license, but stayed that suspension for 20 days until another hearing can be conducted.

The crematory had been put on probation in 1994 after reports that family members had been falsely told that their loved ones had already been cremated and their ashes buried at sea, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which regulates funeral homes and cemeteries.

A condition of the probation is that random checks on the establishment are performed. During one such check Jan. 13, inspectors found piles of bodies, some of them “stacked five high, rotting and oozing onto the floor,” according to a source close to the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous.

The scene, which was videotaped, included one body draped over a garbage can, the source said.

Officials at the crematory at 3223 East Pico Blvd. and its director, Emanuel Weintraub, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Weintraub also is president of chapters of the Neptune Society in San Pedro, Burbank and Santa Barbara. Most Neptune Society members request that their bodies be cremated and their ashes scattered over the ocean.

Until the next hearing, the crematory will be put under strict restrictions, including more random checks, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs said.

“This type of disdain for the law and for human decency is unconscionable and must be stopped,” said G. V. Ayers, chief of the department’s Cemetery and Funeral Programs. “The state will be keeping a watchful eye on them for some time to come.”

Polanco, chairman of the Senate Business and Professions Committee, which oversees the issuance of business licenses in the state, said he hopes that the crematory will be shut down after the next hearing.

“This company should be out of business permanently,” Polanco said.