Russellville Christian Church buys funeral home at auction
Doug Waters ~ Bowling Green's Daily News ~ 3/5/2006
RUSSELLVILLE - A church will soon occupy a beleaguered funeral home property in Logan County.
The property belonging to Tim Hanna, who's been charged with funeral-home fraud, was sold at a commissioner's auction late last month by Russellville Christian Church.
Pat Suiter, who is on the church's building committee, said the church, comprised of 60 to 65 people, previously met at the Women's Club building in Russellville.
"We didn't think about the controversy," Suiter said. "That was the best location and building we could find in Russellville."
Suiter said expansion needs trumped all other concerns, even though members were well aware of the funeral home's problems.
Hanna, 46, was arrested in October by Kentucky State Police and accused of stealing from clients who made prepaid funeral arrangements. Hanna faced more than 100 charges at his initial arraignment Feb. 16, including 16 counts of second-degree forgery for bogus death certificates to the state's Funeral Trust Fund.
Allegedly, some or all of the money for certain reservations never made went into the state's Funeral Trust Fund.
"It's a big, spacious building. It's a matter of personal feelings as to how you feel about a funeral home as a business or church home," said Charles Orange, the Logan-Todd commonwealth's attorney.
Three properties - Hanna and his wife's house, the funeral home and the LandMark Travel building they owned across the street from it - were sold along with furniture and other equipment, said Jay Joines, the Logan County Circuit Court master commissioner.
Stressing the sales were not connected to Hanna's criminal charges, Joines said they were based on a civil failure-to-pay-debt case. Rumors circulating that proceeds of the sales could go to funeral-fraud victims are not true, he said.
"It's a lawsuit by the bank to collect money owed to the bank," Joines said. "The judgment and the case and the lawsuit spells out correctly who gets the money. It doesn't have anything to do with operation of the funeral home or anything about that."
The funeral home sold for $246,100, the house sold for $82,390 and the LandMark Travel building sold for $7,490. Jesse L. Riley and Son Real Estate and Auction handled the sales, he said. About 100 to 150 people attended the auction, Joines said.
As for the criminal case against Hanna, Orange said Hanna is currently out on bond and his next hearing should be in early April. The sides are still poring through evidence in preparation for trial. Orange said trials normally take anywhere from three months to a year to resolve.
Showing posts with label Preplanning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Preplanning. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
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.
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.
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