Story from back in 87 😂
By LOUIS SAHAGUN
Jan. 23, 1987
The state attorney general’s office and the Cemetery Board are investigating charges that a Hesperia ceramics company has done nothing but cremate corpses, including 950 pounds of unidentified body parts from the Aug. 31 Cerritos air disaster, since it opened in October.
The firm, Oscar Ceramics, belongs to David Sconce, who also owns Pasadena Crematorium in Altadena, which closed two months ago after its roof was destroyed by fire.
Oscar Ceramics was closed Tuesday by Hesperia Fire District officials after neighbors in the area complained of “putrid odors” coming from the building, which is in an industrial park in Hesperia, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Inside, officials found two kilns that contained partially burned human remains, according to Assistant Fire Chief Will Wentworth.
“They weren’t totally cremated when we shut the kilns down and opened them up. We are going to refire the kilns and finish the job on Friday.
“There have never been ceramic materials in that facility since it was built,” Wentworth said after a preliminary investigation. “We did find machinery used in cremations such as a deal to grind bones into powder and a sifter to gets bones out of the kilns.”
Sconce could not be reached for comment. But Ralph Cipriano, the Santa Ana attorney representing Sconce, said his client contacted him by telephone Tuesday and said, “The parts (in the kilns) were from the Cerritos air crash.”
“My information is that this was originally a ceramics facility, and that my client had a fire in his Pasadena business, which, in effect, put that facility out of commission.”
In a telephone interview with The Times, the attorney added, “The facility in Hesperia was used to dispose of some body parts from the air crash . . . and as a crematorium.”
But Cipriano said, “I’m sure my client had no knowledge his permits in Pasadena could not also be used in Hesperia.”
“There is no way that license is transferable,” said John Gill, the Cemetery Board investigator handling the case. “Each facility has to have its own license.”
Last Labor Day weekend, an Aeromexico DC-9 bound for Los Angeles from Mexico City collided with a small plane and then plunged into a residential neighborhood in Cerritos. The accident killed 82 people, including 15 on the ground.
About 950 pounds of unidentified body parts from the crash were stored at the Los Angeles coroner’s office, according to coroner’s spokesman Dean Gilmore. They were released Sept. 18 to Douglas Mortuary of El Segundo.
Sam Douglas, president of Douglas Mortuary, said the parts were picked up and removed from the coroner’s office Sept. 18 by Pasadena Crematorium.
“We do a lot of business with Pasadena Crematorium,” Douglas said. But the relationship ended Wednesday when “they called us and said they were closed,” Douglas said.
Sconce has been under investigation since his Pasadena business closed.
“Since the fire, we’ve been looking for the place he was doing his cremations,” Gill said. “He has been filing permits using the old Pasadena address on a regular basis even though it’s been out of business since November.”
Sconce originally told San Bernardino County officials in October that he built the Hesperia facility to make “ceramic panels for aircraft,” Wentworth said.
Since then, Hesperia fire officials have responded to “numerous complaints” from neighbors over “flames shooting out of the chimney and smell,” Wentworth said, adding that the company has racked up 180 violations with the San Bernardino County air pollution control board.
Gill said the investigation is continuing and “we intend to prosecute to the full extent of the law with the state attorney general’s office.” The Cemetery Board, under the state Consumer Affairs Department, regulates cemeteries and crematoriums.
By LOUIS SAHAGUN
Jan. 23, 1987
The state attorney general’s office and the Cemetery Board are investigating charges that a Hesperia ceramics company has done nothing but cremate corpses, including 950 pounds of unidentified body parts from the Aug. 31 Cerritos air disaster, since it opened in October.
The firm, Oscar Ceramics, belongs to David Sconce, who also owns Pasadena Crematorium in Altadena, which closed two months ago after its roof was destroyed by fire.
Oscar Ceramics was closed Tuesday by Hesperia Fire District officials after neighbors in the area complained of “putrid odors” coming from the building, which is in an industrial park in Hesperia, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Inside, officials found two kilns that contained partially burned human remains, according to Assistant Fire Chief Will Wentworth.
“They weren’t totally cremated when we shut the kilns down and opened them up. We are going to refire the kilns and finish the job on Friday.
“There have never been ceramic materials in that facility since it was built,” Wentworth said after a preliminary investigation. “We did find machinery used in cremations such as a deal to grind bones into powder and a sifter to gets bones out of the kilns.”
Sconce could not be reached for comment. But Ralph Cipriano, the Santa Ana attorney representing Sconce, said his client contacted him by telephone Tuesday and said, “The parts (in the kilns) were from the Cerritos air crash.”
“My information is that this was originally a ceramics facility, and that my client had a fire in his Pasadena business, which, in effect, put that facility out of commission.”
In a telephone interview with The Times, the attorney added, “The facility in Hesperia was used to dispose of some body parts from the air crash . . . and as a crematorium.”
But Cipriano said, “I’m sure my client had no knowledge his permits in Pasadena could not also be used in Hesperia.”
“There is no way that license is transferable,” said John Gill, the Cemetery Board investigator handling the case. “Each facility has to have its own license.”
Last Labor Day weekend, an Aeromexico DC-9 bound for Los Angeles from Mexico City collided with a small plane and then plunged into a residential neighborhood in Cerritos. The accident killed 82 people, including 15 on the ground.
About 950 pounds of unidentified body parts from the crash were stored at the Los Angeles coroner’s office, according to coroner’s spokesman Dean Gilmore. They were released Sept. 18 to Douglas Mortuary of El Segundo.
Sam Douglas, president of Douglas Mortuary, said the parts were picked up and removed from the coroner’s office Sept. 18 by Pasadena Crematorium.
“We do a lot of business with Pasadena Crematorium,” Douglas said. But the relationship ended Wednesday when “they called us and said they were closed,” Douglas said.
Sconce has been under investigation since his Pasadena business closed.
“Since the fire, we’ve been looking for the place he was doing his cremations,” Gill said. “He has been filing permits using the old Pasadena address on a regular basis even though it’s been out of business since November.”
Sconce originally told San Bernardino County officials in October that he built the Hesperia facility to make “ceramic panels for aircraft,” Wentworth said.
Since then, Hesperia fire officials have responded to “numerous complaints” from neighbors over “flames shooting out of the chimney and smell,” Wentworth said, adding that the company has racked up 180 violations with the San Bernardino County air pollution control board.
Gill said the investigation is continuing and “we intend to prosecute to the full extent of the law with the state attorney general’s office.” The Cemetery Board, under the state Consumer Affairs Department, regulates cemeteries and crematoriums.
