Archive for the ‘Funeral Scandals’ Category
Another Prepaid Funeral Scandal
Sacramento, California
State regulators have filed a lawsuit against one of California’s largest funeral trusts, claiming that millions of dollars worth of customers’ money has been “misused, misspent, and mismanaged,” according to the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names the California Master Trust as the defendant. It seeks to take over control of the trust, oust the current directors, and force those currently in control to repay $14 million in missing trust funds.
The trust is one of the nation’s largest administrators of pre-need funeral plans — funeral services paid for while the buyer is still alive. Those plans are sold by individual funeral homes, with the payments held by the trust.
Administrators illegally used those payments to pay more than $4 million in kickbacks to funeral homes in order to make sure their plans were sold to customers, according to the lawsuit.
Houston Texas Cemetery Admits To Flubbed Grave Plots
The Latest Scandal for Houston-Based Funeral Corporation SCI (NYSE:SCI)
Houston, Texas
Several children’s graves may be mismarked and their families may not even know about it. The problem is at the Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery, owned by Service Corporation International (SCI Hispana), in southeast Houston.
This all came to light because of one Houston-area family. They started asking probing questions about their own loved ones gravesite. They’d been visiting it for years. They planned to place a headstone on the grave.
Their plans suddenly changed when they say a cemetery employee told them they’ve been visiting the wrong grave all this time. Farrell was furious.
“Where I was sitting was someone else’s little girl,” LeAnne Farrell said.
When we first asked general manager John Krasnick questions, he wasn’t eager to answer them.
Farrell says she was told her son’s grave is marked correctly but that several other children’s graves may not be.
Widow Suing Houston Funeral Corporation SCI for $16M Over Gross Misconduct At One Of Their Tennessee Locations
Houston Funeral Corporation SCI (NYSE:SCI)
Conduct of national company’s local workers called ‘outrageous, grossly negligent’.
A Nashville woman is seeking $16 million in damages for alleged “outrageous, grossly negligent, indecent, reckless” conduct by a death care services provider.
Sharon McNabb filed suit against SCI Tennessee Funeral Services in Davidson County Circuit Court this week, claiming the company’s local workers botched burial arrangements for her deceased husband and “talked her into” cremating his body.
According to the complaint, Andrew Raymond McNabb had purchased a plot at Woodlawn Memorial Park from Woodlawn Funeral Home in 1989. After his death on Dec. 17, Sharon arranged for a Dec. 20 viewing and Dec. 21 service at Eastland Funeral Home before the interment at Woodlawn Memorial Park.
The arrangements were proceeding according to plan until SCI workers notified the McNabb family — during the funeral service — that they in fact had no burial plot at Woodlawn and said the “best thing” to do was cremate the body. According to the complaint, McNabb consented, though she was “completely distraught” and “heavily sedated” at the time.
Then, more than a week after the cremation, McNabb received a notice from the Tennessee National Guard War Records Section that her husband was a veteran and was eligible for burial at the VA Cemetery — notice that SCI had received the day before the funeral.
“Instead of telling her that he could be buried in a VA Cemetery, SCI staff talked her into letting them cremate him for a fee, when at the time it should have been obvious that she was suffering from great emotional distress,” the complaint reads. “This conduct was outrageous, grossly negligent, indecent, reckless, and willful and the kind that is not tolerated by civilized society.”
Houston Area Funeral Home Scam Adds to Grieving Mother’s Tragedy
Houston, Texas
Her 11-year old son was shot and killed. If you think things couldn’t get any worse, you’re wrong.
The grieving mother, now, isn’t sure where her deceased son’s body is.
“A person’s worse nightmare” Fort Bend County Deputy District Attorney Scott Carpenter said.
Carpenter said the mother turned to Rylan C. Scott Funeral Home in Stafford after her son was shot and killed. In addition to funeral services for her son, the mother said she bought several burial plots.
“She thought it would be nice to, when she ultimately dies, to be buried close to her son. So she arranged with Mr. Scott to purchase three funeral plots adjoining her son’s,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter said the mother in mourning paid $2,100: $700 for each plot.
According to Carpenter, 29-year-old Rylan Charles Scott told the mother he was part owner of a cemetery in Stafford. In fact, Craven Cemetery is a place where Fort Bend County buries the poor for absolutely free of charge.
“Mr. Scott has been indicted for selling funeral plots here in Fort Bend County that he did not own,” Carpenter said.
The grieving mother said when she visited the plots; the ground had not been disturbed. She said Scott then told her the location of the plots had changed and her son was buried in a different spot in the cemetery in an unmarked grave.
Rylan Charles Scott has been indicted on two felony counts including theft and tampering with a government document. The state of Texas slapped the Rylan C. Scott Funeral Home with seven different state violations from 2007 to last year after a number of complaints.
The funeral home has now changed ownership, according to the state. The Texas Funeral Service Commission oversees Texas funeral establishments.
Anyone can make an open records request with the agency to find out if the funeral home they are planning to do business with has complaints against it. That is one step that could have avoided a lot of heartache for this grieving mother.
Report: Corpse Confusion in New Orleans Leads to Cremation of Body Slated for Burial
New Orleans, Louisiana
The family of a young man killed in a drive-by shooting has learned that his body was sent to the wrong funeral home and inadvertently cremated as they planned his burial.
“I’m not denying responsibility. This was a horrible error on my part, on my office’s part,” New Orleans coroner Dr. Frank Minyard told Fox 8, as he spoke for the first time about the mistake that led to the cremation of Ralph Bias, 20, who was killed in New Orleans last week.
Minyard says the system failed in three places: first at the Heritage Funeral home where the body was first sent, the St.John’s Crematorium and at his office where an employee did not follow protocol to have the body checked by a family member.
Illinois Funeral Director Marcee Dane Going To Jail For Cremation Cover-Up
Funeral Director Marcee Dane
WAUKEGAN (CBS) – A funeral director accused of giving bereaved families the wrong cremated remains has pleaded guilty in a cover-up of the fraud and is expected to spend months behind bars.
Marcee Dane, 32, of Libertyville pleaded guilty to desecration of human remains, a violation of the Cemetery Protection Act and a Class 3 felony, a release from the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors said Dane tried to cover up a mix-up involving a family’s ashes by first lying to the family, then getting another person’s remains and sending the family those remains to cover the mistake.
Dane even went so far as to exhume cremains and remove an identification tag in case either family discovered the error and chose to exhume the cremains, authorities said.
Is The Funeral Industry Really Facing A Grim Reality?
A review of state records, by The Boston Herald, has revealed more disturbing news about the already embattled funeral industry. All the recent news has many asking about the dark cloud over the business, that continues to grow larger over time.
In Massachusetts alone, the number of citations issued to funeral homes and funeral directors has skyrocketed over the last two years. Violations have included laws being disregarded, fraud, questionable accounting and mishandling the deceased. Over just the past twelve months, 54 disciplinary actions have been taken in Massachusetts.
In recent days, Massachusetts State disciplinary board has been investigating one firm, charged with burying two bodies in the wrong cemeteries. In addition to the wrong cemeteries, the wrong graves were used and family members say the funeral home attempted to conceal the mix-up. The Stanetsky Chapel, owned by Houston-based Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) calls the mishap a mistake and denies concealing the incidents. The funeral home is also a Dignity Memorial provider.
The dark side of the funeral profession has not only reared its ugly head in Massachusetts. Another funeral home owned by Service Corporation International In Boulder, Colorado was sued after dropping a casket at a funeral. According to news reports, the casket was dropped and the corpse fell out of the casket and to the floor in front of family members. Once again, SCI called it a mistake. This is only a couple of the many problems that Service Corporation International has been involved in. However, they are not alone.
Down in Florida, a funeral home employee was charged with sexually molesting a teen girl, after picking her up in the funeral home’s hearse. In Tennessee, a Knoxville area funeral director was arrested for raping a teenage girl. In Texas, a Pasadena funeral home was sued for a botched embalming, whenever a body arrived at the place of burial only to be found in a state of decomposition. In Louisiana, a funeral home director was charged with fraud involving preneed funeral funds, leaving many consumers losing their prepaid funeral and their money. One funeral director is blogging a personal memoir of the funeral industry’s dark side, which is expected to grow into a chilling, yet informative read. He has reportedly been getting financial offers to stop the blog. Again, these are only a fraction of the many scandals involving the funeral industry. It is leaving many to wonder is there an end to the scandals in sight, or is there an end to the funeral industry?
Massachusetts Dignity Memorial Funeral Provider Tries To Conceal Burying Two Bodies In Wrong Cemeteries
Another Scandal For SCI (NYSE:SCI)
Brookline, Massachusetts
A state disciplinary board has ordered a Brookline funeral home to explain how they mixed up the burials of two bodies in August, burying one woman in the wrong grave, digging her up in time for her actual funeral and then allegedly failing to tell one family about the mistakes. The Stanetsky Chapel is owned by Houston-based Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) and is a Dignity Memorial Provider.
The employees under investigation are company manager Kim Perry, embalmers and funeral directors Paul Glennon and Bruce Schlossberg, and apprentice embalmer Jane Salk.
Service Corporation International owns 1800 funeral homes nationwide. Company spokeswoman Lisa Marshall, speaking on behalf of the company and the four employees, said SCI is cooperating with the board. She also said that corporate policy bans her from discussing individual cases, but that she could speak in generic terms about the company’s procedures.
“We work very, very hard to ensure that mistakes don’t happen. We have very good policies, we have good training in place,” Marshall said. “We work with our employees to prevent mistakes. But, occasionally, a mistake happens. When that happens, our policy is to work with the families.”
However, family members are pointing out that they were not notified and that the funeral home attempted to conceal the “mistake.”
Certificates of Deposit: Funeral Director Defrauds with Prepaid Services
Finley, Louisiana
We have all become familiar with news stories of financial advisors and bankers defrauding consumers with certificates of deposit. There are new members that have been added to that team – funeral directors. Recently, a funeral director was accused of this type of fraud. The funeral director admitted to and pleaded guilty to defrauding at least 65 victims out of more than $400,000. The 63-year old funeral director, William James McGuire, was selling what these customers thought were prepaid funeral and burial services. Instead, the owner and operator of McGuire Funeral Home, was using the money he received from customers to invest in a type of trust account that held certificates of deposit.
The Fraud
McGuire is accused of (and has admitted to) funneling the money he received from pre-paid customers into the certificates of deposit. While the certificates of deposit were opened in the name of customer who purchased the funeral or burial services, the funeral home was named as the beneficiary of the deposit accounts. Not only did McGuire have the certificates put in the customer’s name with the funeral home as the beneficiary, but he also added the funeral home as the joint holder of the certificates as well. This is equivalent to holding a joint account with your spouse where you both have the right to use and access the money in the account as you see fit. McGuire saw fit to use the money as his own.
How He Did It
The funeral director was really busy between 2006 and 2007. It was during this time when he began notifying the banks that were holding the certificates of deposit – AmSouth Bank and Regions Bank – that the customer had died. At this time, McGuire was able to cash out the certificate of deposit held in the decedent’s name. To obtain the cash, McGuire created false invoices for the burial and funeral services for the certificate of deposit to then pay off.
Is Murder Victim Buried In Correct Grave? Mom Gets No Answer From Service Corporation International
Tulsa, Oklahoma
A Tulsa woman who wants to remain anonymous donated the money for a headstone and bench to memorialize murder victim Brittany Phillips.
“Without this I probably couldn’t have done this for another six years. She just connected with me out of the blue,” Phillips’ mother, Maggie Zingman, said. “I will never ever be able to repay what she’s done for us.”
But the good things Zingman felt Friday were also bittersweet. She says Service Corporation International owned Rose Hill Cemetery in North Tulsa in 2004. That company has been sued before for mishandling human remains, and that’s what she worries happened to her daughter.
She told a local television station, she first got scared when she found out her daughter was buried in the wrong plot.
“The owners of the cemetery, the year that she was buried, had buried her in an area that was supposed to be a walkway,” Zingman said. She assumed the error meant her daughter’s casket moved a few yards too, but now she’s not sure. “I’ve been struggling with … Do I have to unbury my daughter to be sure?”
She says she discovered the mistake last year, and now she can’t handle the possibilities. “The worst possible thing would be, we open it up and she’s not in there. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but it has happened,” she said. The current owner of the cemetery says he’s willing to help her exhume Brittany’s body to find answers.
Service Corporation International did not return a Tulsa television news team’s calls for comment. Temple Israel, who handled the burial, says Brittany is buried where her new headstone is. A Rabbi told the station that if that spot is not the one that her mother paid for, only human error is to blame.
Funeral Consumer Digest 