Pair charged in cemetery fraud

Forest Lawn Employee wrote:

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GOUGING?!?!? Now lets make no mistake, I am NOT by any means a fan of Roberts. But when you lay all GPL's of all funeral homes side by side in a cost comparison, you will find that Forest Lawn is NOT the most expensive funeral home in the Greenwood and South Johnson County Area. Two other older established firms in this marketplace are more expensive than that of Forest Lawn. If we are going to start throwing darts at Forest Lawn, then lets compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Could this be why Forest Lawn was by far hands down the powerhouse preneed machine that it has been for so many years - even before the Nelms family?
Do your homework and a complete cost comparison before you come back to this blog and start spewing more of your uneducated garbage. I already have, it is one of the things I do for a living with this firm.

Cemetery Education 101 wrote:

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Why dont you get your facts straight. There has never been a receiver that has ever stripped the slate clean and made interment right owners re-purchase their cemetery interment rights. Obviously you have never spent a day in the cemetery business, and are just talking out of your arse. Why dont you educate yourself on receivership and then come back to the board spewing your more "educated" trash.
Every cemetery in america issues a "certificate of interment right", and that is exactly what you are purchasing. The right to inter in "their" cemetery - not yours. You are not required to pay taxes, and are not assessed them on the cemetery property. The cemetery is, therefore, you are just purchasing the right to inter into their soil.
NOW, YOU GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT ... must be a funeral director.

angry wrote:

An elderly, sick, dying man's whole life was put into the Memory Gardens, and the Nelmses ruined everything he ever worked for. And everything his sons ever worked for, and everything their ENTIRE family ever stood for... it's a sick, sad thing that happened and justice MUST prevail.

My Thoughts wrote:

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I am not sure if preplaning would prevent the intrusion of nosey relatives any better (or worse) than if the event was not preplanned. If the deceased had a preplanned arrangement, the next of kin would be present at the funeral conference and have access to all written documents and financial details. So much for privacy.
While a person may wish to be "buried with dignity" after their death, the funeral home and cemetery owners may have other plans for the money!
Discuss your wishes for final arrangements with your family. Don't listen to the slick salesman hawking preplanned arrangements when they tell you not to get your children involved (good con principle). Decide what you want and what you can afford and budget the money in a savings account apart from a funeral home or cemetery that may be under new ownership (or controlled by the local township) prior to your death.
If you want to see what a township cemetery is maintained (or not), look at Beech Grove in Muncie, or any other public cemetery for that matter.

My Thoughts wrote:

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The general public may not be aware that a large number of funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States have been bought and sold by international companies and individuals over the last two decades. The recent story about "Pair charged in cemetery fraud" clearly shows fraud in this industry can and does exist, and may be slow to be investigated at the Attorney General level. The number of "good guys" and "bad guys" in this shady industry has yet to be identified.
The same method used in the 1980's to buy a company, take the employee pension (perpetual care, trust fund, etc.), then sell the company appears to be their business model.
If you need additional examples, check a recent AARP article about this topic, or do a google search for cemetery/funeral fraud.

fishers wrote:

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Well, how lonely Sherry must be since both Clayton and Robert are behind bars. But, then, who knows...maybe she will be joining them. In fact, maybe she and Debora could share a cell.

Just the facts wrote:

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Sure. That, or they find the right pocket to line and they walk with a slap on the wrist. One of the two.