Pair Accused of Stealing Gold From Corpses

San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators Thursday arrested the owner of a Pasadena funeral home and the operator of an Altadena crematory on suspicion of stealing dental gold from corpses.

While serving search warrants for business documents at the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, investigators arrested its owner, Jerry W. Sconce, 54, and his son, David W. Sconce, 31, who is currently under investigation for allegedly cremating corpses without a permit at a Hesperia ceramics plant.

The Sconces were booked on suspicion of grand theft at Pasadena police headquarters and released on $1,500 bail each, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Bryant. Bryant said a third man, Steven Scott Longstreth, 22, of Pasadena, also was arrested on suspicion of interfering with a peace officer. He was released on $500 bail.

Bryant declined to elaborate on the charges except to confirm that it involved the suspected theft of gold fillings from corpses and that the case is “based on information supplied by informants. Our strongest case at this time is the grand theft.”

The arrests came amid investigations by the state attorney general’s office and the state Cemetery Board into reports that David Sconce operated an unlicensed crematory at Oscar Ceramics in Hesperia. David Sconce operated the Pasadena Crematory in Altadena, which burned down Nov. 23. Authorities believe Sconce transferred his crematory to the ceramics plant without proper licensing.

Oscar Ceramics was closed by Hesperia Fire District officials Jan. 20 after neighbors lodged numerous complaints about foul odors emanating from the plant. Fire officials responding to the complaints found two kilns in the building containing partially burned human remains, and a sludge on the floor composed of body fluids mixed with diesel fuel.

Sconce’s attorney at the time, Ralph Cipriano, said his client told him that the remains in the kilns were the unidentified body parts of victims of the Aug. 31 collision of an Aeromexico jetliner and a private plane over Cerritos. State investigators have expressed skepticism about that explanation.

“I don’t know what was found at Hesperia,” said Sconce’s current attorney, Roger Diamond, who is also representing the elder Sconce. Diamond added that the charges of stealing dental gold from corpses are “ridiculous--never happened.” The Sconces could not be reached for comment.

“I’m confident that when the case is over nothing will come of it except that reputations will have been hurt,” Diamond said. “Nothing occurred of a criminal nature.”

San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Glenn Yabuno said his office intends to investigate all aspects of Sconce’s business dealings, including another company he is president of called Coastal International Eye & Tissue Bank, a nonprofit corporation that was once adjacent to the Lamb Funeral Home. It recently moved to an industrial park on Norwalk Boulevard in Santa Fe Springs.

On Monday, the tissue bank’s medical director, Beverly Hills ophthalmologist Dr. Simon Pinhas, and its eight-member medical advisory board resigned after learning of Sconce’s connection with the Hesperia crematory.