Indiana Funeral home|cemetery scam $24 million-yourfuneralguy

Indiana and Funeral home and cemetery scam yielded 24 million Dollars.

An Indiana Cemetery owner is to plead guilty to Fraud on Monday. His Cemetery and funeral scam covered six states: Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Iowa and Tennessee. Only Indiana and Tennessee have prosecuted Mr.Nelms in his preneed trust fund schemes.

In the Indiana Scheme  Nelms and his wife siphoned away 24 million. His wife agreed to testify against him in return for immunity from  prosecution.

From the Indianapolis Business Journal:

“The couple bought the Indianapolis-based cemetery and funeral home business for $27 million in December 2004.

Within days, the couple allegedly drained all $24 million from their newly acquired company’s trust fund, which was supposed to be used to maintain grave sites in numerous cemeteries.”

One property involved is Forest Lawns Memory Gardens, cemetery and funeral home in Greenwood, Indiana. The company involved Memory Gardens Management Corp.

Funeral Industry | Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Indiana  map Pic from Wikipedia

AS A CONSUMER AT A FUNERAL HOME OR CEMETERY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE SURE WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH.

Burr oak Cemetery Scandal:Preneed Contracts will have to be honored.-yourfuneralguy

Sometime in the future, burials will happen again at Burr Oak Cemetery.

Although the Burr Oak Cemetery is closed as a crime scene there will come a time that burials will have to continue. Preneed Contracts held by the cemetery will have to be honored. It does seem a little far off considering that the headstones visible at the cemetery are not all put up on the website.

So far there is no accounting of the desecrated graves at the  Cook County Sheriff’s website:www.burroak.net

Sheriff Dart has stated that it will  be several weeks before the listing of the headstones that are present at the cemetery will be complete.

At that time grave desecrations can be addressed that are not being handled  in lawsuits.

Another cemetery in Illinois has  had  had their licenses removed and closed have to conduct burials.This is Valley View Cemetery in Edwardsville,Illinois.  From thetelegraph.com

“They have a responsibility to the people they have sold these pre-need burial contracts, said Carol Knowles, a spokeswoman for the comptroller….burials have taken place with the volunteer help of former employees.
More burials are scheduled for the next few days.”

There is no word whether burials are being conducted at Burr Oak Cemetery now or in the future.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog By Your Funeral Guy

Burr oak cemetery pic from religion dispatches.org

Funeral Preneed is Dead Even in the Richest Towns-YourFuneralGuy.

A Preneed Funeral Arrangement is a contract, it is not wise to participate

Funeral preneed is dead and in need of a burial. This is true even in the richest cities and towns. The main reason is that no honest funeral director will say that you can lock in today’s prices 1, 2, or 10 years from now. In the Uncertain economy the pitch given for 30 years in the funeral industry has become a lie.  If a funeral director or preneed specialist(counselor) tells you that prices are “locked in” get up and leave.

Even In the posh suburbs of Chicago Preneed sales are scant.

From  Naperville the plush Chicago Suburb.

“Stephanie Jones-Kastelic, co-owner of Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home, said the number of prepay{PRE NEED} packages purchased is going down.

In previous years, financially well-off couples in their 70s and 80s would come to the funeral home to pre-purchase funeral packages so their children or family would not have to cover the costs. This year, Jones-Kastelic said, she sees very few of those couples, and most of her pre-pay customers are seniors about to go on Medicare who want to spend their own money on the expense, which Medicare does not cover.”-THE NAPERVILLE SUN

The Funeral Preneed Scandals have been massive in the last several years:Illinois Funeral Directors Association  (IFDA up to 100 Million), National Prearranged Services(NPS over 1 Billion), Wade Funeral Home, Burr Oak Cemetery-many more.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Source: THE NAPERVILLE SUN and the Funeral Experience of Your Funeral Guy.

Illinois Comptroller:Funeral|Cemetery Regulator needed-yourfuneralguy

State of Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes recently stated that more Funeral|Cemetery Regulation is needed in Illinois. He stated  that a  Regulator in the State of Illinois needs to be empowered.

He defended his role in the Illinois Funeral Directors Association(IFDA)Ponzi Scheme saying he did a good job based upon his regulator Authority. Hynes suggested that the that either his office or the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation should regulate cemeteries.

Funeral Directors in Illinois are quite upset with the Comptroller for the way he handled the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Mess.

Some Funeral Home are out millions. Others may be forced out of business. Funeral Directors are especially upset about his agrreement with Merrill Lynch(18 million) with a get out of Jail Free Card.

In part this is a reaction to the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal.

From the State Journal Register

“Hynes said there are gaps in state law regulating the cemetery and funeral industries. And he said regulating the death industry might not be a good fit for the comptroller, whose central mission is maintaining the state’s financial records and issuing checks.

The comptroller issues licenses to cemeteries and to funeral homes that sell pre-need funeral contracts to the public.”

Should the Comptroller regulate Cemeteries….Will regulation raise or lower funeral cost?

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal|funeral,cemetery,contract rules?-YourFuneralguy

In the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal up to 300 graves may have been desecrated, bones were piled up, 4 workers were involved.

In the United States of America people have have funerals and cemetery burials every day. In most cases the funeral home and cemetery rule. The rules are set in your funeral and cemetery contract. People in grief do not often read the fine print. A Funeral and a burial is both an emotional and a legal contract. Funerals and burials are regulated by contract law.

Often time the funeral director or cemetery sales person does not take the time to make sure the working stiffs understand the fine print.The door is then open to horrible heinous deception and greed. ABC 7 in Chicago has reported the existence of 2 types of burial contracts term graves, and select singles.

Term Graves and select singles are double grave stacking and burial contracts with graves  that can be dug up in 20 years or so and transferred to a mass grave. This all must be spelled out in a contract. No one has stated that these type of Contracts are on file present in  the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal. Note there are cultural, legal and historical aspects of all this which will not be addressed here.

There are 5 Illinois laws that probably apply here. There appears to be violations of these Laws in the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal.

1. The Illinois Cemetery Protection Act
2. Illinois Cemetery Care Act
3. Illinois Pre-Need Cemetery Sales Act
4. Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Act
5. Article 16 of the Illinois Criminal Code.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy Funeral Director, Illinois and Virginia.

Disclaimer I am blogging on this subject from the perspective of the Funeral Director.This is not meant to be legal advice, or judgment of anyone involved in this situation, at Burr Oak Cemetery.

Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal|Comptroller proposes reform-YourFuneralGuy

The Illinois Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal has prompted quick proposals for cemetery reform.

The Comptroller from the State of Illinois has proposed reforms in response to the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal. Politicians whose district includes the cemetery have brought pressure on

State of Illinois Dan Hynes to make reform happen quickly.

Reform is needed but other  recommendations from local experts and the Illinois House Funeral and Burial Prearrangement Task Force need to be considered.

Cemetery “Experts” from outside of the State of Illinois have been stating that reform needs to be passed today or tomorrow.

The problem is that there is a crossover between funeral sales and cemetery sales.

This occurs in the area of Preneed, or prearranged burials and funerals.

Funeral preneed sales people are not licensed in the State of Illinois and the same sort of preneed burial plot scam that went down at Burr Oak  Cemetery has been put up by the non licensed funeral preneed people.

Both funeral Preneed and cemetery preneed folks need to be licensed.

In the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal 300 Graves were dug up, bones were piled high and 100,000 graves need to be accounted for.

The Good news is that Governor Pat Quinn wants to move more cautiously with reform.

Grave desecration should never be tolerated. Dismemberment of human remains is a felony. The people at Burr Oak Cemetery did heinous acts.

Summary from the Comptroller’s July 15th press release.

All cemeteries and their staff who sell cemetery plots and other goods would be required to be licensed through the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation…..

Cemeteries would be required to provide reasonable maintenance based on standards enforceable by both state and local officials.

Requires cemeteries to keep detailed records and maps…..

Creates a consumer bill of rights, including requiring cemeteries to provide consumers with a booklet in plain English detailing those rights under the law.

Extends crime victims assistance eligibility to family members of those who are victims of the crimes charged at Burr Oak Cemetery.

Provides a cost of living increase for public aid burials…….

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Burr Oak Burial Plot Scheme |warnings on self regulation-YourFuneralguy

The Warnings Signs were there in the Burr Oak Burial Plot Scam

There were  warnings on the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal and burial plot Scam. Warnings in  books,blogs and the Newspapers. The mess and and heartache for surviving families could have been totally avoided. Just as we trusted Wall Street with self regulation so we have trusted the Funeral Industry to do the same. Right now the FBI is going over the cemetery site to begin cataloging desecrated remains.

Both acts of trust in self regulation  have proven to be a big mistake. No where is this more apparent than Illinois. In 2008 there was the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Preneed Trust Scandal. In 2009 we now have the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal, in Alsip, Illinois

The Chicago Tribune did a May 29 2009 article warning about excessive complaints at the  Burr Oak Alsip cemetery.

This blog and others have warned about a coming funeral industry disaster

The book Rest in Peace Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral has  an entire chapter on the perils of prepaying funerals.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

More information

White House Reverses itself on First Lady’s Father’s Remains at Burr Oak Cemetery

Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal|USA Worst Cemetery Disaster-YourFuneralGuy

Illinois Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal Largest in US HISTORY

The Burr Oak cemetery disaster may be the worst cemetery disaster in US History.  Up to 100,000 graves will have to be examined. 300 graves dug up, mean three hundred love ones disturbed, a scandal causing grief. This is a sad commentary on our culture. IF YOU ARE DEAD AND CAN’T BE SAFE IN THE GRAVE WHERE CAN YOU BE SAFE?

Reports say that the folks got only about $300,000. How far will that take you? Up to 100,000 grave

THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING TO ALL WHO ARRANGE FUNERALS & BURIALS, Check out what is going on and who you are dealing with.

Snippet From the Aurora Beacon News.

“The Cook County sheriff’s office estimates that about 300 bodies were dumped at the rear of Burr Oak, in an area about the size of three football fields.”

The body count appears to be going higher and higher.

The Scandal took place at an historic African American Cemetery

This is sad because this is an African America Cemetery in Alsip,Illinois  with prominent black leaders buried there.

There are reports that families are gathering for a vigil on Sunday July 12,2009 at the cemetery.

According to a posted ABC 7 News report at tribdemo.sites.5ksites.com:

Investigators say more than 100,000 gravesites will need to be inspected at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip

The financial end of this tragedy involved preneed and cemetery plots.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.