Pennsylvania funeral director pleads guilty to taking graphic photos of bodies being prepared for burial

Angeliegha Stewart was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years probation after she pleaded guilty to 16 counts of abuse of a corpse. (Monroe County District Attorney's Office)

A Pennsylvania funeral director pleaded guilty on Wednesday to taking photos with bodies being prepared for burial as part of a joke for her friends.

Angeliegha Stewart avoided prison, but will instead spend up to 10 years on probation after pleading guilty to 16 counts of abuse of a corpse, WNEP reported.

Prosecutors said that Stewart took photos of the bodies last year at the Lanterman and Allen Funeral Home in East Stroudsburg and then showing them to her friends to  "gross them out."

One of the photos sent to friends showed a corpse whose organs had been removed, while another included a body covered in maggots.

The sentence was imposed after several people spoke about being devastated by the photos taken of their loved ones.

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"I don't think she is going to change without being forced to think about what she has done," Rev. Cait Finnegan told the court. Some of the photos that Stewart shared were of Finnegan's late husband.

"She's on probation, and the only thing she is forced to do now is not get caught again," she told WNEP.

Besides spending the next 10 years on probation, Stewart will have to serve 250 hours of community service and give up her funeral director's license.