Perry Justice, Former Sheriff, Funeral Home Director, Dies
Lexington Herald-Leader ~ 8/2/1990
PIKEVILLE -- Perry A. Justice, a former Pike County sheriff and funeral home operator, died Tuesday at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington after a short illness. Mr. Justice, who lived on Town Mountain Road, was 68.
He was sheriff from 1966 to 1970.
He founded Justice Funeral Home in Pikeville in 1951 and left the funeral home business about two years ago.
Mr. Justice was a former president of the Kentucky Sheriffs' Association and a member of Grace Baptist Church in Shelbiana.
Active in Masonic and Shrine organizations, he was a past master of Thomas E. Cecil Lodge No. 375 and a past potentate of El Hasa Shrine.
He was a World War II veteran.
He is survived by his wife, Charlene Adkins Justice; two sons, Gary K. Justice of Pikeville and Richard D. Justice of Bradenton, Fla.; a stepson, John A. Adkins of Pikeville; three brothers; two sisters; and six grandchildren.
Visitation will be after 6 p.m. today at J.W. Call & Son Funeral Home. Other arrangements were incomplete.
I'm sure ole Perry is turning in his grave, utterly disgusted at what became of his funeral parlor and its reputation. Following his death, sons Richard and Gary took over the management of Justice Funeral Home, eventually bumping heads one too many times and leading to Gary moving on and buying the J.W. Call & Son Funeral Home Perry was laid out in. At some point around or before 2002, Richard began to defraud his customers, spending the money they had prepaid for the funeral and burial expenses instead of securing the funds in a trust, as required by law. He also failed to license either the funeral home or himself as a funeral director. He would ultimately be sentenced to 30 months in prison on 24 counts of insurance and funeral services fraud, and the Justice Funeral Home would close, reopening as the Pikeville Funeral Home after being bought by Paul Burchell. See previous blog entries for details: Fraudulent Pike County Funeral Director Charged with 19 Felonies (2/8/2007), Justice Finds Justice...Kinda (7/5/2008)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Justice Finds Justice....Kinda
This is a follow-up to the matter of fraud and unlicensed funeral direction described in a previous entry, Fraudulent Pike County Funeral Director Charged with 19 Felonies.
Ultimately faced with one count of acting as a funeral director without a license and 24 charges of insurance and funeral service fraud, Richard Justice pleaded not guilty to the initial misdemeanor and nineteen felonies filed against him, as well as to subsequent charges, one of which may have been filed in June 2007 (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting reported in July 2007 that Justice was arraigned on July 25 following a June indictment) and three of which were filed in February 2008 (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting). In April 2008, he was also charged with driving under the influence and without a license plate (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting, WSAZ).
Offered a plea agreement that included a recommendation of probation if restitution was paid (somebody smack that prosecutor!), the ironically named Justice pleaded guilty to all counts in May 2008. He was placed on home incarceration and ordered to replay more than $61,000 to his victims or their estates by his July 1 sentencing date (he had previously repaid a portion of the $87-94,000 he bilked). Though he apologized for defrauding his customers of tens of thousands of dollars, Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Bartley reported to Pike Circuit Court Judge Steve Combs that no restitution had been paid, and the judge ordered Justice to jail for 30 months. (Kentucky.gov press release, Lexington Herald-Leader, WSAZ)
Yup...30 months...two and a half years. The folks Justice bilked had been responsibly putting back their money for longer than that! Hell, he was bilking people for longer than that! He could have faced 20 years in prison and been fined $10,000 on each count...there's a reason the law allows for such a sentence! If prison overcrowding is such a daunting issue that thieving creeps preying on senior citizens get a punishment of two and a half years, then we've got some serious laws to start hacking! Most potheads and a lot of other druggies serving time weren't HARMING anybody, were they? Let this jackass take their spot!
Ultimately faced with one count of acting as a funeral director without a license and 24 charges of insurance and funeral service fraud, Richard Justice pleaded not guilty to the initial misdemeanor and nineteen felonies filed against him, as well as to subsequent charges, one of which may have been filed in June 2007 (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting reported in July 2007 that Justice was arraigned on July 25 following a June indictment) and three of which were filed in February 2008 (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting). In April 2008, he was also charged with driving under the influence and without a license plate (Eastern Kentucky Broadcasting, WSAZ).
Offered a plea agreement that included a recommendation of probation if restitution was paid (somebody smack that prosecutor!), the ironically named Justice pleaded guilty to all counts in May 2008. He was placed on home incarceration and ordered to replay more than $61,000 to his victims or their estates by his July 1 sentencing date (he had previously repaid a portion of the $87-94,000 he bilked). Though he apologized for defrauding his customers of tens of thousands of dollars, Commonwealth's Attorney Rick Bartley reported to Pike Circuit Court Judge Steve Combs that no restitution had been paid, and the judge ordered Justice to jail for 30 months. (Kentucky.gov press release, Lexington Herald-Leader, WSAZ)
Yup...30 months...two and a half years. The folks Justice bilked had been responsibly putting back their money for longer than that! Hell, he was bilking people for longer than that! He could have faced 20 years in prison and been fined $10,000 on each count...there's a reason the law allows for such a sentence! If prison overcrowding is such a daunting issue that thieving creeps preying on senior citizens get a punishment of two and a half years, then we've got some serious laws to start hacking! Most potheads and a lot of other druggies serving time weren't HARMING anybody, were they? Let this jackass take their spot!
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