FBI joins investigation army at Arlington Cemetery (AP)

WASHINGTON-the FBI has joined the army agents investigating possible criminal practices at Arlington National Cemetery that may have surrounded the burial of eight sets of cremated human remains, found in URNs in a single grave.

Investigators are examining whether there was fraud at the cemetery and burial if reservations were made correctly, Chris Grey, spokesman for the criminal investigation command, the army said Wednesday.

A series of embarrassing revelations came out about the most hallowed burial ground of the nation, since the post of General Inspector of the army said last year he found hundreds of serious discrepancies between sites, burials and maps as well as a host of other problems. New leaders were brought, a series of other problems discovered and tombs have also been reopened as part of the probe.

Last week it was revealed that 69 boxes of scanning record from Arlington, including personally identifiable information such as social security numbers were found in a private storage facility, though gray said Wednesday that they were able to connect the boxes to any crime.

Gray said three of the eight sets of remains have been identified and the remains of two were buried at the request of their families. Four sets cannot be identified while continuing the investigation on one, he said.

An Assistant United States Attorney said of the Act of burying multiple URNs in a grave in itself constitutes a crime, but the incident is still part of the investigation into possible fraud of contract and improper reservations, gray told reporters at a news conference.

The Washington Post reported earlier Wednesday that the Justice Department began an extensive criminal investigation with the FBI and the issuing of subpoenas from a federal grand jury for witnesses and records.

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AP Broadcast correspondent Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.

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