Alan Bushey: No Contest

UPDATE, July 22, 2009: Religious leader sentenced to two years in decaying corpse case
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Alan Bushey pleads no contest in his role in the toilet corpse case.

MAUSTON, Wis. (AP) -- A religious leader pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he stashed a rotting corpse for two months in a follower's bathroom.
Alan Bushey was charged last year with hiding a corpse, causing mental harm to a child and theft. Investigators said the body of a 90-year-old member of his religious group was concealed at another group member's home in a scheme to collect the dead woman's Social Security checks.

Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth agreed to drop the mental harm and theft counts in exchange for Bushey's plea, according to online court records.

Bushey, 58, of Necedah, faces up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. His sentencing is set for May 5.

...Prosecutors accused Bushey and follower Tammy Lewis of leaving 90-year-old Magdeline Middlesworth's body on a toilet in Lewis' home after she died there in March.

Tammy Lewis was convicted of a misdemeanor. She kept the corpse of Magdeline Middlesworth in her bathroom for two months. For that, Lewis was fined $350.

It makes me wonder what sort of sentence Bushey will receive.

I suspect he'll be paying a much higher price for his actions than Lewis did.