Former funeral home director pleads guilty

By Russ Cassady Staff Writer

The former director of a Pikeville funeral home has pleaded guilty to charges that he acted as a funeral director without a license and defrauded customers who had pre-paid for funeral expenses.

Richard D. Justice, 55, pleaded guilty Thursday before Pike Circuit Judge Steve Combs to a charge of acting as a funeral director without a license and numerous charges that he took more than $90,000 for life insurance burial policies from several people.

The charges resulted from an investigation by Walter Petot, with the state office of insurance fraud, after receiving several complaints from customers of the former Justice Funeral Home, which Justice has not been in charge of since November, 2006.

The funeral home has since reopened as Pikeville Funeral Home under different management.

The plea came with a recommendation by Pike Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Bartley intended to ensure that Justice pays restitution prior to his sentencing, set for July 1.

“At that sentencing, the commonwealth will recommendation probation if (Justice) has made full and complete restitution to all victims in the case,” Bartley said in court Tuesday, adding that, if Justice fails to repay in full, the recommendation will be that he go to jail.

If Justice fails to pay, and Combs follows Bartley’s recommendation, Justice would have to serve a 30-month sentence in jail.

Justice was also, at Bartley’s recommendation, placed on home incarceration until his sentencing, due to Justice’s recent arrest on a charge of DUI.

“Because of that, I’m going to ask that he go on strict home incarceration pending sentencing,” Bartley said.

As a part of the plea agreement, Bartley recommended that several of the charges against Justice be amended from “violation of the Kentucky Funeral Trust Act,” to a lesser charge of theft by failure to make the required disposition of property.

The alleged fraud occurred between 2002 and 2006, according to court documents, when Justice took money from the victims and then failed or refused to place the funds in a trust or with an insurer, as required by law.