More charges filed against operator of crematory

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- Authorities filed 56 additional charges Tuesday against the operator of a northwest Georgia crematory where hundreds of discarded corpses have been found and an official said the recovery of bodies was ending.

"Hopefully we have found all of them," said Walker County Emergency Management Agency Director David Ashburn. "We are scaling back now."

The new charges bring to 174 the number of theft by deception counts against Tri-State Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh, 28, who remains in the Walker County Jail.

A magistrate denied Marsh bond Monday, noting that investigators were likely to file further charges.

Marsh is accused of taking payment to cremate bodies and in some cases returning cement powder and dirt to families whose funeral homes used Tri-State.