Mortuary worker cremated cow parts for fake funerals in insurance fraud

A former Los Angeles mortuary employee has been convicted of defrauding insurers by staging a fake funeral and attempting to cover it up by cremating a mannequin and cow parts she placed in the casket.

Jean Crump, 67, was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, a statement from the US attorney's office said. She faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in jail.

Crump and three accomplices took out bogus death certificates, purchased a burial plot, buried an empty casket and staged a funeral, then billed $1.2 million to insurance companies for a person who had not died, prosecutors said.

After two insurers became suspicious and investigated, Crump and her cohorts exhumed the coffin, filled it with a mannequin and cow parts and cremated it. Her accomplices have pleaded guilty in the scam. Crump is to be sentenced Nov 29.