2nd arrest made after rotting bodies found in Ga. funeral home

DOUGLAS, Ga. - A second arrest has been made in connection with the discovery of 18 decomposing corpses in a Coffee County funeral home, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The GBI said James A. Sirmans was arrested and charged with two counts of insurance fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

The charges stem from the discovery of 18 decomposing bodies at a funeral home in Coffee County. According to investigators, Coffee County deputies arrived at the Johnson Funeral Home in October to serve its owner with an eviction notice when they reportedly found 18 bodies “in various stages of decomposition.”

Investigators also discovered the bodies of two pets — a dog and a cat — inside the funeral home.

The owner, Chris Johnson, was charged with 17 counts of abuse of dead body, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

‘Gut-wrenching pain’

For the first time, one of the families whose loved one was found decomposing at a Douglas funeral home is speaking out.

Several families are seeking legal action because they say the Secretary of State’s office could have prevented a disheartening discovery.

In late October, Johnson Funeral Home was shut down after investigators came across 18 bodies and two pets decomposing. Four weeks later, Desiree Hatch found out one of them was her mother, Charlotte Nastasi, who ed away in June of this year.

“I don’t know how to explain the gut-wrenching pain that I felt...that I still feel every day. I’m struggling,” Desiree said. “I fell apart more hearing she was one of the 18 than when she actually died.”

Nastasi is ed as a fighter. But when she was put into hospice care she asked her family to do only two things after she died.

“One was for her body to be blessed before she leaves the house, and the second one was to be direct cremated because she did not want to go through the stages of decomposition. I feel like I failed her in that sense,” said Mathew Sanches, Nastasi’s grandson.

The Hatch family paid $1,400 for services from Chris Johnson that were never fulfilled. They also never received a death certificate which has put a halt to closing out Charlotte’s life. Several questions remain unanswered, including how a state inspector ed the facility to begin with.

A Secretary of State inspection that was done at Johnson Funeral Home in July shows the facility received a ing inspection even though Johnson did not have an establishment, embalmment, or funeral director license at the time.

Sources told WALB that Johnson’s licenses lapsed. According to state law, to operate a funeral home, you must have all required licenses. Along with ing his inspection, Johnson was never fined for not having his licenses.

“First of all, the first thing they look at is your license,” Chuck Sims, a Douglas funeral homeowner said. “And so that’s what we were worried about. How can you do business and how can you an inspection?”

Sims said there were red flags well before the discovery. Two years ago, he even filed a complaint against Johnson Funeral Home when he found out there were issues with Johnson’s license. Still, nothing was done. Now families are left with a continuous cycle of grief.

“Something could have been done,” Sims said. “It’s like getting a loved one back. You know, and they thought their loved one was already cremated and now they’re reliving the whole death situation.”

Sims recalls a similar case that happened in Walker County. The case ultimately helped changed the legislation regarding dead bodies.

In 2002, Over 300 bodies that were supposed to be cremated were discovered at Tri-State Cemetery. Ray Brent Marsh, the cemetery’s owner, pled guilty to several charges including abuse of a dead body. Marsh has since served his 12-year prison sentence.

At the time, Sims was a state representative who realized there was no legislation to properly hold offenders able. He later helped a bill that would make abuse of a dead body a felony, which is what Johnson is facing now.

“You make a law to try and prevent something from happening. You make it so bad that nobody would want to do the crime,” Sims said. “It’s a terrible situation but the law is there to protect the public and punish him if that’s what he did. It’s no doubt he has a lot of questions to answer.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Is still working to identify six bodies that were found out of the 18.

WALB News 10′s Lenah Allen reached out to the Secretary of State’s office for a statement and is still waiting to hear back. An open records request has also been filed to see how many complaints Johnson Funeral Home received last year.

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