DETROIT – The state of Michigan had strong words for a Metro Detroit cemetery operator: Sam “Tocco lacks the requisite good moral character, financial stability, responsibility and security to control and operate a cemetery in a legal and proper manner.”
After 20-plus years managing multiple Metro Detroit cemeteries, Sam A. Tocco had moved on to yet another cemetery operation, but now the state wants to shut him down. In a legal notice filed in October by the Michigan Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), the state says it intends to deny Tocco’s application for control of Trinity Cemetery in Detroit. The state says Tocco is “ineligible to become a cemetery owner,” not only because he operated Trinity for several years without state registration, he has “a history of noncompliance with the regulatory requirements of this state.” The Cemetery Commission demanded Tocco cease and desist from operating Trinity Cemetery.
The application from ST Enterprises the complaint from LARA, and the cease and desist order can be read in full at the bottom of the story.
Sam Tocco’s cemetery management history includes contracts for three Detroit-owned cemeteries. City-owned cemeteries are exempt from state cemetery oversight.
Background: Grave markers moved, missing headstones: Problems plague Detroit cemetery
Tocco also operated the privately-owned Knollwood Memorial Cemetery in Canton, from 2003 through 2017.
State records reveal Tocco violated state cemetery law multiple times while managing Knollwood (well before the city of Detroit signed him on to manage its Gethsemane Cemetery). Tocco’s state violations at Knollwood include $286,796. in missing cemetery funds, unsubmitted state-mandated annual reports for 2003 and 2004, and operating Knollwood unregistered for several months. The state fined Tocco twice for Knollwood violations: $10,000 in 2006 and $5,000 in 2015 (the 2015 fine wasn’t paid until it went into collection). In 2015 Tocco filed for bankruptcy protection, then in 2017 he relinquished control of Knollwood and bought Trinity Cemetery in Detroit.
State law requires cemetery operators must first be approved and certified by the state Cemetery Commission. The law also makes clear that (among other accounting requirements), fifteen percent of all burial proceeds must be put into a special trust fund for cemetery maintenance. About the mismanagement of Knollwood accounts, the state says “Tocco has inadequate financial stability or integrity to protect the public.”
Dozens of Detroit families told Local 4 investigators their loved ones’ bodies or headstones were misplaced, or missing from Detroit’s Gethsemane Cemetery.
Tocco paid $300,000 for the privately-owned Trinity Cemetery in 2017, but didn’t bother applying for state registration until 2021. In its October legal filing, the state said Tocco “operated and continues to operate the Trinity Cemetery without valid registration.”
Taking into account his history at Trinity and Knollwood, the state says it has had enough, and intends to deny Tocco’s application for registration of Trinity. An administrative hearing on the matter is scheduled for March 11.
When asked for comment, the state said, “This matter is still pending, and no Final Order has been issued. Neither the Cemetery Commissioner nor the Bureau may comment on an ongoing administrative proceeding. Any comments on the facts surrounding this matter would negatively impact the respondent’s right to a fair and impartial administrative adjudication.”
Read more: Michigan Guide to Cemetery Regulation