casper funeral home investigation

Southie garage being used to store bodies. Absolutely amazing the work that you all do. This means,at any time during that period, the morgue was holding on to a dozen or more of yesterday's bodies, becauseof troubles the state Department of Transitional Assistance was experiencing in trying to find funeral directors willing to bury them. State investigators say during an inspection, Casper's funeral director told them that the actual funeral home was their only facility and made no mention of that garage. $1,395 Affordable Cremation Complete with No Extra Charges across Massachusetts. The Casper Funeral Home facilitated the cremation of my fathers body (Feb 2023). My Mom, Grandmother, 2 brothers, 2 Sisters, My in laws, My brother in-law and Many friends. Damond Michael McKinney CASPER - Damond Michael McKinney, 49, passed away on Monday, October 31, 2022. Marilyn L. Bird, Scottsdale, Ariz. Visitation: 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 4, Egelhof, Siegert and Casper Funeral Home and Crematory, 2659 John F. Kennedy Road. Upon learning of Ledoux's recent hospital diagnosis, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner subsequently refused his body when police came calling. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WCVB-TV. Since its earlier rejection of Ledoux, MassLive has learned, the medical examiner's office had been experimenting with a simple fix, first suggested by Nields:to increase the $1,100 payout on its own unclaimed bodies by$1,000. { Owner / Manager / funeral director and embalmer with the Casper Funeral Services. Never had a problem.my loved o es looked peaceful and everything else looked up to par.you didnt even finish your story.like were they fined or shut down?you wrote a half ass story about them storing bodies in an unlicensed garage. A garage that is not licensed to perform funeral services. Dont shoot the messenger. '"Stefan buries his unclaimed, sometimes two bodies to each unmarked grave, at St. John's Cemetery in Worcester at a cost of $700 per, the best he can do. NOT as cash cows to be taken advantage of at their most vulnerable time. I have always had respect for them. "They don't have a leg to stand on. And so when police, in August 2016, found Ledoux dead at a friend's apartment on Green Street in Brockton amid unused oxygen tanks, the cause did not seem suspicious. POCATELLO Downard Funeral Home has been closed since Sept. 3, when investigators taped off the business and retrieved numerous decomposing bodies from inside the facility. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WCVB-TV. See a problem? Let them go to the States office and shoot them, they reported it first! Thank you for reporting this Maureen. According to Stefan and Lawler, Fairview won't provide plots if the late homeless person's place of residence was, say, a shelter in Somerville or Charlestown. "I'm going to take them to court and subpoena the policy people," Stefan said. Please call us at 800-314-1890 to help your family through this difficult time. Casper's Massachusetts low-cost cremation services with no extra charges, international funeral shipping services from Massachusetts across the world make their funeral and cremation service offering unique. "The law says every city and town must provide space for indigents, but there's nothing in there about the price, and that doesn't mean it's free," Stefan said.Added Lawler, "They can say a cemetery plot is $1,500. I have referred many of my friends when they had lost family members and had nowhere to turn. "The answer would have been, 'We don't know.' At Casper Funeral & Cremation Services, we understand how difficult it is to lose a loved one. It is our privilege to assist your family. "The two individuals have been identified as 27-year-old Kameron Young Johnson and 19-year-old Acacia Colvin, both of Casper," the coroner's release said. WEBVTT rtKATHY: A HEARSE BACKS INTO ANUNMARKED GARAGE IN THIS OLDBRICK BUILDING ON TUDOR STREETIN SOUTHIErtTHE SOUNDS OF HEAVY METAL MUSIC,AND CAR-REPAIR WORK, ECHO FROMTHE SHOP NEXT DOOR.5 INVESTIGATES HAS DISCOVERErtTHIS GARAGE IS AN UNLICENSSTORAGE FACILITY FOR THE DEAD.A SLOW ROLL BY GIVES YOU A PEErtINSIDE.REFRIGERATORS IN THE BACK, WHEREBODIES WERE STORED.rtA BOBCAT PARKED TO THE SIDE., >> IT'S SIMPLY NOT OKAY.KATHY: JACQUIE TAYLOR IS AFORMER LONG TIME FUNERALDIRECTOR AND INDUSTRCONSULTANT.rt>> WHEN I SEE THIS, IT DISTURBSME.KATHY: SHE SAYS WHAT WEUNCOVERED IS ILLEGAL ANDUNETHICAL.>> THIS FIRM HASrt DONE A FREEFALLDOWN THE ETHICAL SLIPPERY SLOPE,BECAUSE THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHTTO A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OFDIGNIFIED SHELTER AND CARE OFTHEIR LOVED ONESKATHY: THE OPERATION IS RUN BYCASPER FUNERAL AND CREMATIONrtSERVICES, A COMPANY THAT CALLSITSELF ONE OF THE MOST TRUSTEDFUNERAL AND CREMATION SERVICEPROVIDERS IN THE STATE.rt>> IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING THEMOST PASSIONATE CARE, rtKATHY: ON THEIR WEBSITE, ITAPPEARS THEY'RE TOUTING THISGARAGE AS A STATE-OF-THE-ART,SECURE FUNERAL REFRIGERATIFACILITY.ACCORDING TO DOCUMENTS OBTAINEDrtBY 5 INVESTIGATES, DURING ARECENT SURPRISE STATEINSPECTION, AN INVESTIGATORFOUND TWO BODIES BEING PROCESSEDIN THE UNLICENSED SPACE.12 OTHERS WERE STASHED IN AREFRIGERATOR.THERE ARE NO SPRINKLrtERS ORDRAINS.THE GARAGE, WHICH SITS AROUNDTHE CORNER FROM THE FUNERALHOME, WAS HOT AND CLUTTERED.rt>> WOULD YOU SAY THIS IS A CASEOF BROKEN TRUST?>> I THINK THIS IS A TREMENDOUSETHICAL AND LEGAL LAPSE AND ITBREAKS THE TRUST OF THE PUBLICrt-- OF THE PUBLIC.>> 5 INVESTIGATES PULLED BURIALPERMITS AND CREMATIONAUTHORIZATIONS FOR CASPER THATrtSHOW THEY'RE THE BUSIEST FUNERALHOME IN THE STATE.IN THE PAST YEAR THEY'VE HANDLEDNEARLY 1800 CREMATIONS, FAR MORE THAN ANrt, AT A CHEAP, $1395 DOLLAR RATE.SEVERAL FAMILY MEMBERS WHORECENTLY USED CASPER'S SERVICES, TELL US THEY WERE SATISFIEDrtWITH HOW THEIR ARRANGEMENTS WEREHANDLED.BUT NOW SOME ARE TROUBLED BY THEFACT THAT THEIR LOVED ONES MAYHAVE BEEN STORED INSIDE THISGARAGE.rtWE ARE HURT.WE ARE VERY HURT.>> THIS IS THE SAME COMPANY 5INVESTIGATES EXPOSED BACK IN2013rt WHEN THEY CREMATED84-YEAR-OLD FRANNIE HICKEY BYMISTAKE.THE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICERELEASED THE WRONG BODY TO ACASPER EMPLOYEE.CASPER CHECKED THE LAST NAME BUTrt, NOT THE IDENTIFICATION NUMB, AND HAD HICKEY CREMATED WHENHER WISH WAS TO BE BURIED NEXTrtTO HER HUSBAND.THEY WERE FINED AND PUT ONPROBATION.NOW STATE REGULATORS HAVE PUTTHEM ON NOTICE THREATENING TTAKE ACTION FOR WHAT THEY SAY ISHAPPENING BErtHIND THIS DOOR.>> I DON'T THINK THE PUBLICEXPECTS IT TO BE IN ANrtINDUSTRIAL GARAGE WITH A BOBCAT, BEING STORED THERE AS WELL.>> STATE INVESTIGATORS SAY,rtDURING AN INSPECTION, CASPER'SDIRECTOR SAID AT THE FUNERALHOME WAS THEIR ONLY FACILITY,AND MADE NO MENTION OF THATGARAGE. The operation is run by Casper Funeral and Cremation Services, a company that calls itself one of the most trusted funeral and cremation service providers in the state. Attorneys Grand Junction Office and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Neff in the Denver office. Jeff Dorschner The Denver Field Office of the FBI and the Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General joined in todays announcement. According to a recently unsealed grand jury indictment, from 2010 through 2018, Hess and Koch operated Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors (SMFD), which purported to provide burial and cremation services. We invite you to browse our website, and please feel comfortable enough to stop and submit a question or comment if you wish. Established in 1937, Bustard & Jacoby Funerals, Cremations, Receptions has pledged for over 80 years and five generations of family service that each funeral, memorial and reception service, while distinct, requires a careful blending of goods and services to ensure that the service offering is as special and unique as the people that are most intimately involved. Main Office: Now state regulators have put them on notice, threatening to take action for what they say is happening inside the Tudor Street building. The Department of Transitional Assistance will, over a month later, sometimes deny their $1,100 claims. (Kristin LaFratta). thank you, Linda! Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Website. Is that your position? In the few instances where families agreed to donation, Hess and Koch sold the remains of those decedents beyond what was authorized by the family, which was often limited to small tissue samples, tumors, or portions of skin. "I don't have a cooler at my facility," said Robert Graham of Easthampton's Graham Funeral Home, another funeral director who tries to play a helpful role in burying abandoned bodies and the less fortunate. In at least dozens of instances, Hess and Koch did not follow family wishes, and neither discussed nor obtained authorization for Donor Services to transfer decedents bodies or body parts to third parties. If you have any questions relating to funeral service, please That'sillegal under current Massachusetts law, because a family member could sometime later pop up, and reveal the person was a member of a faith with restrictions against thecremation, leaving the funeral director legally liable. I find your SO CALLED reporting deplorable , HELL you can get a parrot to do what you did. If you have lost a loved one, we are available to assist you 24 hours a day. I think its disgusting, would you approve of your loved ones stored in a garage or being prepared for viewing? Even a Bobcat a small industrial machine, is parked to the side. To the people with harsh comments, youre trust is with Caspers ask them to show you the garage!! We did not do the investigating. MILLERSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) A Lancaster County funeral home and its director are facing formal disciplinary action and are under investigation by the state. Bustard & Jacoby has attentive staff in Casper available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to guide and support families through all aspects of funeral service and bereavement care. Never say anything negative about anything in Southie. We are available to assist your family 24/7/365 days a year and you speak with our team not an answering service. BOSTON A local funeral home is under investigation for using a garage as an unlicensed storage facility for the dead fired back at the state, saying they've done nothing wrong and that. Casper Funeral Home in South Boston 187 Dorchester St South Boston, MA 02127 (617) 269-1930 http://casperfuneralservices.com/ Click to show location on map Zoom About Casper Funeral Home The Casper Family has provided families with the finest care, compassion and sensitivity for over 75 years. casper funeral home boston. Dave Casper handled my mothers wake and funeral, and my uncles out-of-state -cremation with professionalism, empathy, and courtesy. Hess, and at times Koch, would meet with families seeking cremation services, and would offer to cremate the decedents bodies and provide the remains back to the families. SMFD would charge $1,000 or more for cremations, but many never occurred. "I wanted to hold the guy's body over the city of Brockton and say, 'What would you have done if I didn't come from 75 miles away to get him?'" An employee of the City of Casper's Metro Animal Shelter has been charged with theft following an investigation that indicated he stole almost $6,000 from the shelter over six years, the Casper Police Department announced on Monday. if (typeof sfsi_widget_set == "function") { Anyone who entrusted the care of a loved one at the Lankford Funeral Home and has concerns and/or information is asked to contact the Office of the Clark County Coroner at 812-285-6282. 5 Investigates has discovered the garage is an unlicensed storage facility for the dead, the refrigerators where bodies were stored visible during a slow drive by. 1801 California Street Our caring and professional funeral directors are here to assist in the planning of, for those men and women who have bravely sacrificed by serving our country. If its not true then Im sure the Caspers will work it out. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. "But I want an explanation on why welfare is bending over backwards to penalize us and deduct money from the $1,100 we get. The Casper Family has always been a loving support, and has always treated us with the utmost honor dignity and respect. It's all about trust, compassion and dignity and it doesn't have anything to do with whether you pay a lot or a little.". Avenue, CASPER, WY, 82601. By the way, I plan on making an appointment to prepay my final services as a chance to support them, as they have always supported us. Next of kin have been notified and autopsies have been scheduled. At the Egelhof, Siegert & Casper Funeral Home we take pride in our thoughtful, creative and meaningful services. It was not a refrigerated storage facility. CASPER, Wyo. Bustard's Funeral Directors and Crematory. Only those who were residents of the city itself qualify for burial the City Poor Lot at Fairview, and the cemetery can get tricky about residency. Copyright 2022 WAVE. cremation services. (Kristin LaFratta), Stefan, who had expected to receive Ledoux's body back from the medical examiner eventually, said he was surprised to find the office never contacted him again about the matter.In response to a MassLive inquiry about what ever happened to Ledoux,Office of the Chief Medical Examiner spokesmanFelix Browne said after the office dispossessed Stefan of his body,the department of Transitional Assistance ended up transferring the remains toLawler. Some funeral directors describe these as abandoned bodies.It wasn't that Ledoux didn't have anybody. What Ledoux lacked was surviving family to claim his body. The garage, which sits around the corner from the funeral home, was hot and cluttered. Previously, Kenneth was a Tis and Ert at Federal Bureau of Inv estigation. This article is not making me feel very well. "This firm has done a freefall down the ethical slippery slope because the public has a right to a reasonable expectation of dignified shelter and care of their loved ones, she said. If you have immediate need of our services, we're available for you 24 hours a day. Maybe, if you actually left the comfort of your laptop and walked all the way down there, you could find out for yourself, instead of repeating inflammatory verbage from somewhere else. To report additional information regarding potential criminal conduct, please contact the Jeffersonville Police Department Detective Division at 812-285-6535. "We've helped out, basically for free, and now we're often finding out we're actually going to take one on the chin, financially," Graham said. In response to a MassLive records request, Massachusetts provided welfare assistance in this fashion in more than 4,000 funerals in 2017. 5 Investigates: State action against funeral home 839 views Nov 8, 2018 5 Dislike Share Save WCVB Channel 5 Boston 182K subscribers 5 Investigates began looking into Casper Funeral Home. Notably Stefan, who called the policy "discriminatory." They say bodies were stashed in a refrigerator which is more provocative than placed and stored. Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. "I don't think the public expects it to be in an industrial garage with a Bobcat being stored there as well, Taylor said. He famously buried Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2013 when no one else would. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Stefan is known for speaking out on issues of the dead and for making a few waves. There was an error verifying your email address. He has outstanding warrants and was last seen in the area of Ten Mile Road and Hwy 20-26, and is likely traveling on foot.. Casper Funeral Home 187 Dorchester St South Boston, MA 02127 617-269-1930 18 ratings 89% gave a "superior" overall rating - Prices 40% lower than average Compare 55 nearby funeral homes "Very helpful and truly sympathetic in our time of grief." Read More Comments Prices for Casper Funeral Home Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A Casper police lieutenant committed suicide earlier this week and the Casper Police Department will treat his death as resulting from line-of-duty actions, officials announced Wednesday. Former funeral director and industry consultant Jacquie Taylor told 5 Investigates in August: "The ethical metric is would you tell the public? Of the burial, Lawler said he never knew Stefan had Ledoux's body before he did, adding that he had never heard of another example of themedical examinertaking back a body it had initially refused from a funeral director, if there were no intentions of performing an autopsy. AtHope Cemetery, also in Wocester, Stefan can bury one body per grave at a cost of $750. Hess and Koch also delivered cremains to families with the representation that the cremains were that of the deceased when, frequently, that was not the case. All done with so much compassion and making sure the departed was given the dignity they deserved. Thank you for a heart felt service for my great nephew. On their website it appears they're touting the garage as a state-of-the-art secure funeral refrigeration facility. burial services, Our caring and professional funeral directors are here to assist in the planning of funeral services, burial services, memorial services, and cremation services. What happens if the cemeteries raise their (plot) prices $100, $200? Hess and Koch would also ship bodies and body parts that tested positive for, or belonging to people who had died from, infectious diseases, including Hepatitis B and C, and HIV, after certifying to buyers that the remains were disease free. Casper Funeral & Cremation Services. Bustard & Jacoby has attentive staff in Casper available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to guide and support families through all aspects of funeral service and bereavement care. . OtherMassachusetts municipalities don't have the budget of Boston, to be sure, and there's consequently little room to negotiate plot prices.Private and municipal cemeteries (most are private) all have their own budgets to balance. Police located an ex-wife in Saugus hours into the search, and that's the best they could do. Previous Next Instead, he wants state lawmakers to propose new legislation empowering municipal boards of health to deal with future Ledoux scenarios as matters of public health, and have the authority to issue permits to funeral directors allowing them to cremate rather than bury unclaimed cremains after a month, without facing legal liability. We are located minutes from the Boston Medical Examiner, all of the Boston-area hospitals and Logan International Airport. Yes Caspers has helped many, many families and friends. "Not many people are willing to keep working at a loss. ", Robert J. Lawler Jr. and his brother William Lawler, who together co-direct Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral and Cremation Service in West Roxbury. "Compounding the problem, under current Massachusetts law, funeral directors can't collectthe $1,100state welfare payment for their work unless "the total cost of (the subsequent) funeral service" does not exceed $3,500. September 8, 2021. 5 Investigates made numerous calls to Casper and the funeral homes lawyer for comment, but our calls weren't returned. As a Casper operated funeral home, crematory and reception facility, we are privileged to serve the families of Casper and Natrona County during one of life's most critical times. "We've had to go begging to cemeteries, asking them to donate graves" to keep down costs, Lawler said.Nields, in his 2016 assessment of the problem, corroborated the struggles of the funeral directors trying to do a bit of good. Get a grip. 5 Investigates.

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