Former funeral director Joseph V. O’Donnell.

By Jim Clark

Cremated human remains have been discovered in storage facilities in Somerville and Weymouth by law enforcement investigators who have been looking into allegations of fraud by a former funeral director, Joseph V. O’Donnell, 55, of Mattapan.

Dozens of cremated remains were found by investigators at U-Haul Moving & Storage in Somerville on Wednesday of last week, followed by 12 more remains discovered in a Public Storage Unit in Weymouth on Thursday.

O’Donnell has been the subject of a fraud investigation by the Boston Police Department and the Suffolk Count DA after allegations were made that he had taken money from an elderly couple as pre-payment for future funerals. When the couple tried to apply one payment to another family member who passed away, they learned that the funeral home was closed and O’Donnell was unable to provide them with their payments. O’Donnell was arrested in April and charged with two counts of larceny over $250.

In the course of the investigation by authorities, the cremated remains of a reported 52 deceased people were discovered in the storage facilities. Authorities said that foul play in the deaths of the deceased are not suspected at this time, but an investigation into the storage of their remains is under investigation.

Suffolk County DA Daniel F. Conley said, “Our top priority right now is determining the identity of the remains we’ve discovered. We’ve seized records and documents that could help us locate those people’s families, but this will be a time- and labor-intensive task.”

Investigators are reportedly looking into additional instances of possible fraud by O’Donnell, whose funeral director’s license lapsed in 2008.

According to authorities, no threat to public health has been caused by the storage of the human remains.

The investigation into the details of the case is ongoing at this time.