WILKES BARRE-SCRANTON, PA (WNEP/CNN) - Investigators say a funeral director in Pennsylvania was dealing drugs and taking inappropriate pictures of corpses. People in the community were disgusted to hear what the woman called "Angel" says were meant as simple pranks.
Angeliegha or Angel Stewart, faces serious charges over what she described to be a prank. Charges include abuse of corpse and harassment.
Detectives with the Monroe County District Attorney's Office say Stewart is the funeral director at Lanterman and Allen Funeral Home in East Stroudsburg. They say she took pictures of dead bodies the funeral home was preparing for burial and showed them to friends on her cellphone as a joke.
Employees and customers at the other businesses along Washington Street where the funeral home is located call the accusations sick and disgusting.
"That's not a joke, that's pretty serious, that's kind of disturbing to me. You know I can't see how anybody could even think like that," said Bill Frazetta, a business owner.
"That's just wrong, you know, point blank. That's the dead, you're supposed to respect the dead and stuff like that... for the families' sake and stuff like that," said Manuel Velez, a resident.
Court papers show detectives obtained Stewart's phone after several people complained Stewart was showing off pictures of dead bodies.
One photo showed a corpse whose organs had been removed. Another showed a body covered in maggots. And detectives say Stewart admitted showing the pictures to people to "gross them out."
"My mother passed away some time ago and to think that somebody's actually taking pictures of the dead corpse and showing to friends as a prank, I think that's very insensitive," said resident Gordon Palmer.
"It's out of respect, you got to respect the dead ultimately," said resident Andres Madrigal.
Stewart is also accused of selling marijuana to make extra money. A statement from the funeral home said: "We were disappointed to learn of the allegations and we are taking them very seriously. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are fully cooperating with authorities and are not able to comment further at this time.”
After being charged, Stewart was released without having to post bail. Investigators say they are working to identify the bodies in the pictures.
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