Funeral director charged
A Burgettstown funeral director was arraigned Thursday on multiple charges filed by the state attorney general’s office accusing her of collecting money for prepaid funerals and commingling it in a personal account.
Lynn Sue Taucher, 56, of 23 Erie Mine Road, is the owner of Taucher Funeral Home, also at 23 Erie Mine. She was arraigned on 49 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds as well as one count each of forgery and insurance fraud before District Judge Gary Havelka. Taucher waived the charges to court Thursday and was released on $20,000 unsecured bond.
According to court documents filed at Havelka’s office, the investigation started in May after the attorney general’s office received a complaint from the Washington County district attorney’s office. In addition to the allegations of the comingling of money, it was also alleged Taucher was spending the money to support a gambling habit and failed to place the prepaid funeral funds into individual trust accounts, as funeral directors are required to do by state law.
Taucher’s attorney, Jeffrey S. Weinberg, said his client was not comingling the funds, but rather “failed to make proper deposit on preneed accounts.” He said all preneed money is now in an escrow account and that it is “fully funded.” He called the attorney general’s information in the affadavit “inaccurate.”
The investigation reportedly revealed several violations. From 2006 through 2016, Taucher allegedly accepted thousands of dollars on behalf of her clients and did not put the money in separate escrow accounts, nor did she report the money received to the state as required, according to court documents.
Taucher reportedly admitted to investigators that the money she collected was placed in her personal PNC bank account, which is the same account she drew from to support her gambling habit. Taucher allegedly told an investigator that she spends up to $500 a week gambling and admitted to mingling the prepaid funeral money with her own and said she has always operated her business in that way, according to court documents.
Taucher, through her attorney, reported to the investigator that she accepted $375,713 from 47 prepaid customers. Of those, 38 are still owed funeral services. The investigation revealed that 13 more customers paid $56,156 for services. These additional customers were not included in the list provided to the investigator. Additional customers were still being identified and coming forward, according to court documents.
Weinberg said those figures are “not that far off the mark” but “not completely accurate.” He declined to comment further until he meets with attorney general’s agents to review their information.
Weinberg said the attorney general’s office has been supplied with information on the escrow account that holds the money, which was set up in 2016, and from which no withdrawals can be made without his signature. “We have to satisfy them that every liability is covered,” he said.
The investigation also revealed that Taucher engaged in unlicensed broker-insurer activity. Investigators determined she was appointed as a designated underwriter for an insurance company, but she was terminated by the company after five years. The investigator determined that several victims were presented insurance forms with that company after Taucher’s agreement was terminated.
During the investigation, a document was found with the signature of a Slovan woman who was a prepaid customer and Taucher’s signature. The Slovan woman told investigators it was not her signature on the document to release funds to the funeral home for funeral services upon the death of the policy holder.
The woman told the investigator that a Florida funeral home handled the cremation service for her husband that she paid for out of pocket. She never received reimbursement. Taucher was to repay either the woman or funeral home after receiving the insurance money, according to court documents. The investigator alleges Taucher forged the woman’s signature.
Taucher reportedly told the investigator that it was not her intention to defraud anyone out of their prepaid funeral money.
“There is more than enough cash on hand to cover any shortfall,” Weinberg said. “No one will go without what they paid for.” He said anyone with questions about preneed funeral money that was paid to Taucher can call him at 412-877-0728.
Kathleen K. Ryan, executive director and general counsel for the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association, said there is a strong possibility that Taucher could lose her license from the state Board of Funeral Directors if she is found guilty of the charges.
Taucher is scheduled to be formally arraigned on the charges April 21.