A prosecutor called it a scene from a cheap horror movie. Today, the mastermind of a stolen body parts scandal pleaded guilty. And during his plea, Michael Mastromarino implicated several others including some Rochester-area funeral home operators.

Michael Mastromarino calmly sat in court and confessed for an hour to making millions of dollars by stealing the body parts of corpses from funeral homes in the northeast.

He admitted to illegally harvesting the tissues or bones of several hundred bodies including five from Monroe County - forging consent forms, changing causes of death and never checking for diseases.

Josh Hanshaft said, “What he did here was take families that were wonderful people in many aspects and mutilated their bodies for his profit and greed."

The plea came more than two years after the gruesome scandal broke, with evidence of the dead being hacked up without permission. Investigators released photos of exhumed corpses where bones had been taken and replaced with PVC pipe.

Karen Delre said, “Although Mr. Mastromarino got a sentence today, we live with a life sentence of what they did to our father."

Mastromarino's illegal enterprise led investigators to Rochester, where they would eventually arrest seven people, four alleged tissue harvesters, and three funeral home operators.

During his colloquy this morning, Mastromarino implicated all of them.

Prosecutor: "Scott Batjer of Profetta Funeral Home?
Mastromarino: "Yes."  
Prosecutor: "Jason Gano, Thomas Burger Funeral Home?"
Mastromarino: "Yes."

The seven in Monroe County are still awaiting trial and Monroe County DA Mike Green would not comment on how Mastromarino's plea would impact the cases or whether he would be called to testify here.

For his part, Mastromarino will face 18 to 54 years in prison.
 
Mastromarino and company face hundreds of lawsuits from people who received tissue transplants and from the families of those who had their body parts taken without permission.

Prosecutors say his actions posed a grave risk to transplant recipients.