Ex-Cemetery Worker Receives Probation for Body Desecration

CHICAGO (AP) — A former suburban Chicago cemetery worker has received probation for desecrating bodies and removing skeletal remains to sell graves to customers unaware they were buying previously sold plots.

Maurice Dailey was a backhoe operator at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip. He pleaded guilty in July to desecration, removal of buried remains and removal of headstone charges.

The 65-year-old Dailey was sentenced to three years of probation. Judge Joan Margaret O’Brien also ordered Dailey to perform 120 hours of community service.

Prosecutors say the scheme to sell previously occupied graves was masterminded by the cemetery’s then-director, Carolyn Towns. It was prompted by perceived overcrowding. Towns is serving a 12-year sentence.

Two brothers also have been convicted, with 51-year-old Keith Nicks sentenced to six years in prison and 44-year-old Terrance Nicks to three years in prison.

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