Funeral Home Owners Ordered To Pay
Canton Couple Accused Of Embezzling Money For Personal Use
POSTED: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
UPDATED: 6:27 pm EDT May 3, 2010
LIVONIA, Mich. -- Two local funeral home owners have been ordered to pay hundreds of dollars in restitution after being convicted of embezzlement.
Christopher and Nancy Ziomek,of Canton Township, were charged with taking money from prepaid funerals at their Livonia funeral home on Wayne Road and putting it to personal use.
Each was charged with two counts of embezzlement, three counts of embezzlement by an agent or trustee and one count of conversion.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said there were at least 60 victims, and that the two accumulated more than $230,000 in undue profits from 1998 to 2007.
Sally Sexton said her parents paid for the prepaid funeral services 20 years ago.
Sexton said when her mother died, the service at the funeral home was a disaster.
"We were to have limos for the grieving family, but they said they didn't have cars and they wanted more money for my mom," she said. "They took my dad's money and used it for my mother's funeral. So, when my dad died last January, we had no money to bury my dad."
Another victim, Theresa Harp, said she knew the couple well.
"We trusted them. I knew Nancy. Nancy went to our church," Harp said.
The two were ordered to make a $150,000 payment Monday, with the remainder of the restitution to be paid during the first nine months of probation in three installments.
But because the couple was not able to make the first payment, they were issued a probation violation warrant and a hearing on the matter has been set for May 10.
If convicted of the probation violation, or the couple fails to make any more payments, they could be sentenced to an additional 2-15 years in jail.
The Livonia Police Department is asking anyone who believes they've been a victim of the funeral home to contact them at 734-466-2470.
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