Pages

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Russellville Funerary Fraud Now Faces 109 Charges

Mortician faces more theft counts - Ex-director of Russellville funeral home now charged with more than 100 counts
Burton Speakman ~ Bowling Green's Daily News ~ 2/7/2006

The Russellville funeral home director accused of stealing from clients who made pre-paid funeral arrangements has been charged with another 39 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition.

"Someone would die and the family would say they had money in the Funeral Funding Trust of Kentucky and the trust fund would say no money was there," said Trooper Todd Holder, public affairs officer of Kentucky State Police in Bowling Green.

The victim would then say they had paid "whatever amount" to funeral director Tim Hanna, he said.

"There were 52 victims involved in this case," according to a state police report on the case.

When the alleged incidents occurred, Hanna, 46, was the director of Memorial Funeral Home in Russellville.

The first complaint to state police came Sept. 27, when an individual said she was unable to contact her funeral director, according to the report.

The woman was concerned because she had recently purchased a pre-paid funeral plan from Hanna and was not able to discuss the matter, according to the report.

State police and the Kentucky Attorney General's Office then contacted the funeral funding trust to inquire about the complainant's status and discovered she did not have an account with the fund, according to the state police report.

In Kentucky individuals pre-pay a funeral home for funeral service and that money is placed into the funeral trust fund, Holder said. When that person dies, the funeral home is paid by the funeral trust.

Hanna received this money for prepaid funerals but would not forward the money to the trust fund, Holder said.

How the money was used is part of the ongoing investigation and cannot be discussed, he said.

Some of the victims have lost thousands of dollars, Logan County Commonwealth's Attorney Charles Orange has said.

Orange, who could not be reached for further comment today because of murder trial, at the time said the largest amount discovered stolen is more than $10,000 while the smallest amount is $300.

Hanna is scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 16 in Logan Circuit Court. He is facing a total of 109 charges which include 41 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition over $300, 52 counts of violation of trust provisions/pre-need payment for funeral services and 16 counts of second-degree forgery.

Hanna was served with the additional charges Monday in Louisville and taken into custody without incident, according to the state police report.

Hanna was previously arrested on Oct. 4 but posted a bond then and was released.

State police said no further details would be released now because the investigation is ongoing.

Hanna is being held at the Logan County Detention Center on $500,000 cash bond.

Related Posts