Miscellaneous

• ‘Plot Turnover’ in Famous Chicago Cemetery Leads to Felony Charges

  Clayton Kent | July 09, 2009 8:12 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  At the Burr Oak Cemetery in the southern suburbs of Chicago, lay the remains of a number of prominent figures from the African-American Community. It is also the site where four cemetery workers...

• Settlement Reached in Case of Michigan Body Dumped in Landfill

  Clayton Kent | June 22, 2009 6:12 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  If losing a family member was not already traumatic enough, imagine the nightmare of having the body of your loved one disappear from the funeral home you have entrusted with the remains. Worse yet,...

• Funeral Directors Charged in Human Chop Shop Case

  Clayton Kent | October 09, 2007 9:02 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  Three funeral directors in Philadelphia were charged last week with the illegal taking and selling of body parts. Bones, skin, tendons and spines were taken from bodies without the permission of the families, and most of the "donors" were not suitable due to their age, physical condition, or because of disease. Once the body parts were taken, the bodies were then sent for cremation. The...

• Abby Mortuary Funeral Director Loses License

  Clayton Kent | August 31, 2007 5:19 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  I have previously written about the allegations against and conduct of the funeral director of Abby Mortuary in Rohnert Park, California. As you may recall, this was the incident where the mortuary was storing bodies in a rented warehouse, and, in some cases, storing them without refrigeration. The State Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, which regulates funeral directors, mortuaries, embalmers, and...

• Funeral Home Violations: Cemetery Owner Accused of Embezzling Funds

  Laura Blatt | July 12, 2007 12:55 AM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  The owner of Forest Hill cemeteries in Memphis, Clayton Smart, allegedly embezzled millions from families who purchased pre-paid funeral policies, according to charges filed by the state. Mr. Smart is also accused of making off with $70 million in funeral home trust funds in Michigan. Mr. Smart appeared before Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Arnold Goldin this week. He was held in contempt of...

• Louisville Funeral Director Charged with Improperly Storing Body

  Laura Blatt | June 06, 2007 9:33 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  Former Louisville funeral director Nathaniel Anderson has his troubles. Although his license was suspended in 2006, he was arrested last February for storing a corpse without refrigeration at his business, Anderson Funeral Services. A customer identified the deceased as her mother, and said that the body was supposed to have been cremated, according to Channel 32 News, WLKY, in...

• Funeral Home Malpractice: Funeral Home Problems in the Nation's Capitol

  Laura Blatt | June 01, 2007 7:55 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  Reese Funeral Home in Washington, DC, was cited for allegedly not storing the bodies of the deceased at appropriate temperatures to prevent decay and for not having a licensed funeral director. The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) also took enforcement actions against five other local funeral homes for not having proper licenses. Three of the funeral homes did not even...

• Funeral Home Malpractice: Body Snatching and Medical Transplants

  Laura Blatt | May 23, 2007 12:27 AM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  Three funeral home directors and four employees of a biomedical supply company are accused of stealing body parts, organs and tissue from corpses awaiting cremation or burial. Other charges include opening graves, unlawful dissection and fraud. The defendants allegedly sold the parts to medical tissue banks, which provided them to hospitals and doctors for use in transplants and other medical...

• Funeral Home Negligence: CA Mortician Loses License

  Laura Blatt | May 17, 2007 12:32 AM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  A mortician's license was indefinitely suspended for improperly storing bodies, allowing them to decay in a warehouse without proper refrigeration. Anthony Villeggiante is co-owner of Abby Chapel of the Redwoods in Rohnert Park, California. The mortuary has now been shut down. When state inspectors checked the warehouse in March, they found nine bodies. A swamp cooler and baby powder did nothing...

• Former Crematory Owners Plead Guilty to Negligence

  Christina Cole | May 04, 2007 10:52 PM | 0 CommentsNovato, CA

  The former owners of Bayview Crematory that was closed over two years ago after investigators discovered remains and a body in a broken cooler - have agreed to plead guilty to several charges. Charges included negligence and the filing of false tax returns.The crematorium that handled close to 2,000 bodies each year from funeral homes in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire had been operating...