NEWARK, N.J. — A former New Jersey funeral director has been sentenced to four years probation for his role in harvesting and selling body parts.

Robert Maitner Jr. was sentenced Monday in Newark as part of a plea agreement for admitting to one count of desecrating human remains. The 34-year-old Edison resident already served a 6-month sentence in New York in connection with the case.

The scandal emerged in 2006 when a group of funeral service providers were accused of cutting up corpses from funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania without relatives’ consent. They sold them to medical companies for transplants.

Maitner, who lost his funeral license in January, formerly owned Kiernan Funeral Home and Maitner Cremation Services in Belleville.