Police: Former Funeral Director Charged With Theft of Preneed Funeral Funds

Hartford, Connecticut

A former funeral home director in Hartford has been arrested.

Geneva County Sheriff Deputies have arrested Jason Shephard and are charging him with eight counts of Theft By Deception. The charges stem from an investigation into the pre-need funeral home accounting practices of the funeral home owned by Shephard.

After an investigation by Hartford Police, the case information was presented to a Geneva County Grand Jury which returned indictments.

Shepard had moved to Georgia and was arrested in Georgia.

The deceptive practices came to light following complaints from families that had paid pre-need funerals.

Illinois Funeral Director Marcee Dane Convicted of Desecration of Remains and Cremation Cover-Up

Marcee Dane

Chicago, Illinois

A funeral director accused of giving bereaved families the wrong cremated remains has pleaded guilty in a cover-up of the fraud and is expected to spend months behind bars.

Marcee Dane, 32, of Libertyville pleaded guilty to desecration of human remains, a violation of the Cemetery Protection Act and a Class 3 felony, a release from the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office said.

Prosecutors said Dane tried to cover up a mix-up involving a family’s ashes by first lying to the family, then getting another person’s remains and sending the family those remains to cover the mistake.

Dane even went so far as to exhume cremains and remove an identification tag in case either family discovered the error and chose to exhume the cremains, authorities said.

Marcee Dane was a funeral director at Burnett Dane Funeral Home in Libertyville, where the scandal occurred.