(CHICAGO) — A funeral director’s license has been temporarily suspended after state officials alleged multiple bodies, as many as 50, were kept unrefrigerated in deplorable conditions at a Southeast Side funeral home.
Police activity was reported Thursday evening outside South Chicago Chapel near 95th Street and Exchange Avenue. According to records from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, funeral director and embalmer Johanna Morgan’s license was temporarily suspended after the agency found that her continued practice posed a danger to public safety, interest and welfare.
State records allege Morgan allowed multiple bodies to be kept in an unrefrigerated area under “deplorable conditions,” including a rodent infestation. Officials said the conditions caused the bodies to decompose and become infested with maggots. The area had been roped off as the Chicago Fire Department declared a Haz Mat situation.
Officials say it could take days before all the remains are identified.
