A photographer tipped Channel 2 Action News off to more than 50 cremated remains left unsecured after a fire at a funeral home and crematory.
Now, he has been charged with a crime.
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Ben Stevens, who posted pictures of what he found inside the burned-out funeral home, told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell that he is the reason why so many families have the cremated remains of their loved ones.
Police say he is charged with criminal trespassing at The Norman Medford Peden Funeral Home and Crematory.
Stevens is usually behind the lens, capturing images of abandoned places around the world. But earlier this week, he was on the other side of the camera - accused of a crime.
“You have an individual that had entered a property without permission, did not contact authorities when he said that he found something that was outrageous,” said Chuck McPhilamy, Marietta Police Department
“I just went in for photographs,” Stevens said. “There was no harm, no foul. I didn’t damage property.”
Stevens found cremated remains, hazardous chemicals, bank statements and other personal information inside the funeral home last year. He said it was left unsecured, and he posted the photos on social media.
Agencies showed up not long after Channel 2 broke the story to secure the building.
The Cobb County Medical Examiner’s office and police found numerous boxes of cremains, some labeled, others weren’t.
More than six months later, a traffic stop during a trip to Georgia landed Stevens in handcuffs.
“He said, ‘Oh, you have an active warrant from Cobb County, so you’re going to jail,” Stevens said.
He was charged with criminal trespassing earlier this year but says he didn’t know about it.
“It said I forced my way into the property, and I thought, well I didn’t because the door was open,” he said. “There was no sign of forced entry.”
“If this individual had simply called 911 when he got there and said, ‘Hey, I believe there’s a problem and I believe I found cremains,’ we could have stepped in six months prior and been able to investigate,” McPhilamy said.
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