PASADENA : Man Given 5-Year Term for Bus Pass Forgery

The son of the former owners of Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena has been sentenced to five years in an Arizona state prison on criminal charges of forging bus passes.

David Sconce, who has pending criminal actions against him in California, pleaded guilty to the Arizona charges June 29, and was sentenced July 28 in Kingman, Ariz. Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss said California authorities will begin extradition proceedings in a few months to have Sconce brought back to California for trial.

Sconce and his parents, Laurieanne and Jerry Sconce, were accused in 1987 of stealing gold from hundreds of bodies, removing and selling organs from cadavers without permission, and performing multiple cremations in Altadena and Hesperia. David Sconce pleaded guilty in 1989 to 21 criminal charges and served more than two years in state prison.

But other charges remained, including conspiracy to kill a possible rival mortuary owner. Before the trial could begin in California, Sconce was arrested in April in Arizona and charged with selling phony bus passes. He had been free on bail and living in Bullhead City where he worked as a bus driver for 1 1/2 years.

Sconce disappeared for 19 days after the Arizona charges were filed against him in April, but he later turned himself in and entered a guilty plea.