ver the years, many astute entrepreneurs have utilized self-storage to benefit their budding businesses. Instead of renting warehouses or office space, they choose to store their inventory, supplies, equipment, and records in storage units. In fact, it’s become such an ordinary occurrence that many facilities offer conference rooms and other workspaces for their tenants. What’s not as common—and justifiably illegal—is the improper storage of human remains at self-storage facilities.

Last month, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous tip, which they speculate could have come from a burglar of the same self-storage facility, that a unit at iStorage at 2000 Reed Road in Greenville, Miss., contained a casket.

Upon investigation of the site, three corpses were discovered (two within the casket and another outside of the casket) in a unit that was being rented by 31-year-old Albert “Al” Creath, the former owner/funeral home director of Creath Memorial Services in Greenville.

The investigation led to the arrest of Creath, who was charged with two counts of improper desecration of corpses. Deputies learned that Creath was using the storage unit as a funeral home and still charging people for services.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time a funeral home director with a revoked license has utilized self-storage for their illegitimate enterprise. Back in 2014, 12 bodies and the cremated remains of more than 40 other people were found in two units rented by Joseph O’Donnell, an unlicensed Massachusetts funeral director. A larceny investigation that brought to light his license status led to the gruesome discovery.

But not all funeral directors who rent units are storing remains. Many merely need extra space for unused inventory. However, some do rent units to legally store unclaimed cremated remains. For example, Steve Monetti, a former “Storage Wars” bidder, was shocked and rightfully disappointed to find 31 urns containing cremated remains inside an abandoned unit at Harlem Self-Storage that he won at auction for $550 in 2014.

“I was very surprised,” Monetti originally told The New York Post. “I’ve found one or two urns like this in the past, but never anything of this magnitude. It was very eerie. My body shook and I said, ‘This can’t be!’ When I saw the paperwork, I was stunned and couldn’t eat.”

Because the remains were never claimed by the families of the deceased, the urns were placed in storage by the previous tenant, Warren M. Blake, a former NYPD detective who had owned M. Marshall Blake Funeral Parlor and died in 2007. With all the cremation records present, no crime had been committed.

So how do you keep your facility from ending up on the evening news? There’s no guarantee that it won’t happen at your site, but there are some steps you can take to keep things on the up and up.

For starters, before renting units to new customers, property managers should be inquiring about what they intend to store. Managers should also review the list of items prohibited from storage, which would include human remains. Having the tenant sign an acknowledgement of this list and placing it in their file is highly recommended. If the tenant is reluctant or refuses to sign the list of prohibited items, that should be a red flag. To provide a clear and constant reminder to tenants, the prohibited items could be prominently displayed on signage throughout the facility.

“A good rental agreement should contain a clause prohibiting the storage of irreplaceable items, heirlooms, jewelry, flammables, etc.,” adds Randy Weissman, COO of Pogoda Companies.

Although it’s not a standard practice to conduct background checks on tenants, managers could conduct an online search to find out if they are linked to any crimes that may necessitate storage, such as counterfeiting and drug dealing, before the rental is approved. Bad seeds could be told that no units are currently available and that their name can be added to a wait list. One final bit of advice: Trust your gut. If something is terribly off about a person, and you think they want to rent for the wrong reasons, there is no harm in putting them “on the wait list” for a day or two until you have a chance to follow up on your hunch.

When tenants are moving into units, have your managers take them a bottle of water and/or a welcome bag. This serves two purposes: It is a chance to provide great customer service and peek at what’s being stored. If the manager notices something suspicious, it can be addressed immediately. Managers are encouraged to look for dubious behaviors and potential issues during their lock checks and property walks as well.

“Most important is for managers to know their tenants,” says Steve Mirabito, president of StoragePRO Management, Inc., who adds that most situations are caused by operating procedures that are poor, non-existent, or not enforced. “Get out of the office and inspect; my saying is ‘What is inspected is respected.’ Know the reason why customers frequent their storage units.”

The facility could also establish a “see something, say something” policy to urge tenants to report questionable on-site activity; this can be done anonymously through something like a suggestion box, a special voicemail box set up through the facility’s telephone system, and/or an email address specifically for reporting incidences. What’s more, you could form a partnership with your local police station or consider installing in-unit cameras. Some self-storage operators even allow cops to train their K9 units on site to deter crime. Adding more strategically placed surveillance cameras is another option if you have time (or funds to pay someone else) to review the footage to see what tenants are storing.

Finally, managers could attempt to secure a secondary contact for the tenant so that they could be reunited with personal items, such as urns, in case of default.

If an auction bidder drops off an urn at your self-storage facility, it’s an act of kindness to attempt to return the remains to the family. If you cannot reach the former tenant or the secondary contact, and the name of the deceased is known, a quick search for their obituary would point you to the funeral home that you call for further assistance.

“Regarding urns, typically auction buyers leave them behind with personal papers,” says Weissman. “That creates a challenge, especially when we are unable to contact the former tenant. Disposal is bad karma, and therefore, not an option. The only solution is to package the urn and mail it to the tenants last known address.”