A Tennessee cemetery has been ordered closed after the owner was arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse.
Jemar Lambert
According to authorities, the owner of the cemetery is charged with “burying multiple bodies in the same graves without proper permission to do so.”
And this is not the first run in with the law for Jemar Lambert, 38, owner of Galilee Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bartlett, since last year he was accused of trying to sell plots on land that he did not even own. Lambert allegedly tried to sell burial plots for an area next to the cemetery, which Lambert does not own and has no rights to.
A temporary restraining order filed after Lambert’s arrest served to shut down operations at the cemetery.
“We are sensitive to the importance of Galilee Memorial Gardens to countless families and to our community,” Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said in a written statement, according to WMC-TV. “We will continue working with the Department of Commerce and Insurance to resolve this situation respectfully and effectively.”
Commissioner Julie McPeak explained closing the cemetery in a statement: “We believe that the owners and proprietors of Galilee Memorial Gardens cannot act in the best interest of the community. Know that we are working alongside the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office to identify the extent of issues with Galilee.”
Now that the cemetery is closed, those with loved ones buried there may finally get the justice they’ve been demanding.
The downside of the cemetery’s closure is that some who had planned to bury their loved ones over the weekend are being forced to make new arrangements.
(Via Kulture Kritic)
