State files criminal charges against two funeral company officials
The Attorney General's Office also settles a civil suit over desecration of bodies in the Palm Beach County cemeteries.
By Associated Press
Published May 23, 2003
WEST PALM BEACH - The state filed criminal charges Thursday against the world's largest funeral industry company, charging it with unearthing old bodies and tossing aside their bones to make room for more burials.
In another development announced Thursday by the Attorney General's Office, Service Corp. International of Houston will have to pay up to $14-million in fines and restitution as part of a settlement of the state's civil lawsuit against SCI over its operation of Menorah Gardens cemeteries.
SCI and vice president Jeffrey Frucht were charged with incompetence and misconduct in operating a cemetery. Former superintendent Robert McKay was charged twice with failing to get written permission before disinterring a body. Investigators found some of the remains of two men, Hyman Cohen and Harold Wells, near a wooded area.
Cece Dykas, an assistant deputy attorney general, said investigators found "horror stories" to be true about desecrated bodies, crushed burial vaults and crowded graves where couples were buried head to toe, not side by side.
Dykas said the acts were done "completely for the corporate bottom line."
SCI spokesman Don Mathis said the company inherited many of the problems at the Menorah Gardens cemeteries, which SCI began running in late 1995, and that investigators should have gone after the gravediggers who were responsible, rather than blame the corporation and Frucht.
"It was some employees doing things they shouldn't have done," Mathis said.
Mathis said Frucht "was a good employee who tried to shape up a couple of tough properties."
Both Frucht and McKay could serve up to five years in prison if convicted.
SCI already faces a civil lawsuit on behalf of 1,400 families who claim the cemetery operator dug up graves and dumped the remains in bordering woods, ignoring problems with crowding for years.
Another family lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that a deceased man's tongue was cut out in an attempt to make his body more presentable for an open coffin viewing.
Ted Leopold, an attorney who represents 50 families in another civil case, said the criminal charges "are confirmation of everything we've been saying for months and months."
Dykas said the state's criminal and civil cases will not affect families' lawsuits. As part of the $14-million settlement, $2-million will be set aside for damages to individuals. Another $4.6-million in refunds has been paid to families.
In addition, SCI agreed to follow new industry standards that Dykas said were the most comprehensive in the nation. The company must conduct a statewide review of each of its more than 50 cemeteries to make sure that bodies were buried in proper locations and that cemetery plots that are sold don't encroach on neighboring plots. A court-appointed examiner also will continue to oversee each burial at the Menorah cemeteries and ensure that all consumer complaints are resolved. Dykas said she expects the examiner to be in place for several years.
"It will be the best documented cemetery in the country," said Mathis, who applauded the new rules.
