Rotting bodies in garage land Philly undertaker in jail
A North Philadelphia funeral director arrested in 2015 after neighbors discovered three rotting corpses in her garage was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison followed by 20 months of house arrest.
A North Philadelphia funeral director arrested in 2015 after neighbors discovered three rotting corpses in her garage was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison followed by 20 months of house arrest.
Protesting that "the whole story hasn't been told," Janet Powell-Dailey, 73, was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge Susan I. Schulman, who also barred her from ever again working for any mortuary business or service.
Assistant District Attorney Shuaib Newton said that Powell-Dailey's house arrest would be electronically monitored, and that when it ends she will begin five years' probation. Newton said Schulman also ordered Powell-Dailey to pay a total of $3,492 in restitution to two families for services - a headstone and cremation - that Powell-Dailey never delivered.
Newton said two relatives testified about the shock of learning that their dead relatives' bodies had been left decomposing in a garage.
Defense attorney Robert M. Gamburg said, "It was a difficult case, and we're pleased with the outcome."
Last month, Powell-Dailey pleaded no contest to charges including theft by deception, theft of movable property, and abuse of a corpse.
In August 2015, neighbors on the 2600 block of West Hagert Street called police after they smelled a foul odor and discovered decomposing bodies in a garage around the corner from Powell-Dailey's funeral home at 2432 N. 27th St.
By last January, Powell-Dailey had been criminally charged, and the state Board of Funeral Directors had revoked her license and imposed $180,000 in civil penalties.
The board also revoked the license of her business, Powell Mortuary Services, and imposed $120,000 in civil penalties on the business.
The state board found that Powell-Dailey and her funeral home failed to properly store and dispose of remains, let bodies decompose and treated them disrespectfully, and failed to keep required records. The board also noted that Powell Mortuary Services had been operating for more than three years on an expired license.
Powell-Dailey was one of two Philadelphia funeral directors to face criminal charges in 2015. A few weeks after the discovery in Powell-Dailey's garage, authorities charged Blair Hawkins with operating an unlicensed mortuary, Hawkins Funeral Services, at 53rd and Vine Streets in West Philadelphia.
Hawkins, 54, is awaiting trial on abuse-of-corpse charges.
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