Miami ? State officials seized 19 bodies Friday at an illegal crematorium and arrested the operator, who is already under investigation for a scheme in which mortuary students allegedly embalmed corpses without the consent of family members.

Investigators with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulations found the bodies at Oakwood Cremation Services in Miami. Officials said one body was being incinerated when they arrived.

Miami police arrested Joseph Damiano, 65, the owner of Professional Transport Systems, which transports corpses. He was charged with operating an incinerator without a license, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.

Damiano was released from jail Friday on $500 bond and would likely make his first appearance before a judge on Saturday, authorities said.

There was no answer at Professional Transport late Friday and Damiano’s phone number is unlisted. It could not be determined Friday if he had an attorney.

The department recently conducted a sweep of all crematoriums in the state to assure that they were properly licensed. It was begun after about 340 bodies were discovered dumped near a Georgia crematorium.

“There was no person on site appropriately licensed to oversee the facility,” said a department spokeswoman.

Damiano is being investigated for allegedly taking bodies to Lynn University in Boca Raton for embalming by the school’s students without the families’ permission.