AG says cemetery owners stole fees

Owners of an East Lawrence cemetery looted funds meant for upkeep of the burial grounds, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office says, as part of an alleged conspiracy that spread to at least a half-dozen other states.

“Defendants were actively involved in a conspiracy to systemically loot the assets and trust funds” of Lawrence Memorial Park Cemetery, Deputy Atty. Gen. Bryan Brown said in a court filing made public late Tuesday afternoon.

The fraud allegation against 21 defendants – including cemetery owner Mike Graham & Associates, LLC in Houston – came nearly a year after City Hall took over maintenance of the cemetery, and 21 months after surviving relatives went public with their complaints about overgrown weeds that covered headstones

Nina Bair, whose husband, Floyd, is buried at the cemetery, said Tuesday she wasn’t surprised by the fraud allegations.

“No it doesn’t, not the way they kept it,” she said. “They weren’t doing no upkeep on it or nothing.”

The case is being tried in civil court, but Brown said in the filing that the defendants’ actions were “felonies.” Whitney Watson, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, declined to say whether criminal charges would be filed.

“I can’t comment on that,” Watson said. “This action today deals strictly with the civil remedies we are seeking at this point.”

The case

According to the court records, the defendants:

¢ Illegally “swept” money from maintenance and merchandise trust funds – required to be maintained in Kansas – to an Alabama bank account.

“Thus Kansans who tendered monies to the defendants in good faith, with the thought that those monies would be safely placed in trust, had no monies placed in trust,” Brown wrote in the court filing.

Brown said similar schemes were executed by the defendants in Oregon, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia “and possibly elsewhere.”

¢ Allowed Memorial Park to become an “abandoned cemetery” because that trust fund money was no longer available to pay for maintenance.

“Defendants did not : care for graves, gravestones, driveways or common areas as required by law,” Brown wrote. “This lack of care for the physical property was a direct result of the lack of funds available due to the defendant’s looting of the permanent maintenance fund.”

¢ Marketed and sold mausoleum space that was never built at Memorial Park – apparently sending the money to the Alabama bank account. Mausoleum purchasers were later reimbursed, Brown wrote, but without the interest owed on the account.

¢ Illegally attempted to mortgage the cemetery. John Weber, a Wichita attorney for BSX Capital LLC, which holds the mortgage, said Tuesday he hadn’t seen the court filing and couldn’t comment.

¢ Took steps to dodge scrutiny, including refusal to submit to a state audit.

Brown added: “Defendant Michael Graham has constructed, aided by other defendants, a dizzying flurry of corporations and conglomerates in a bid to avoid responsibility for the actions documented herein.”

Transfer to city

Brown asked that the defendants pay more than $1 million in damages, and that ownership of the cemetery be permanently transferred to City Hall.

The city has been in temporary control of the cemetery since May. Interim City Manager Dave Corliss said more than $103,000 of taxpayer money had been spent on maintenance since then.

“We’re glad to see the attorney general is aggressively pursuing this,” Corliss said. “We’re anxious to get it – as I’m sure they are – resolved in the public’s favor.”

Mike Graham did not return a phone call left at his Houston residence. Except for Weber, the BSX attorney, the remaining defendants either did not respond to phone calls or did not have available contact information.