That's an interesting way to do it.
Wow, Level 5 felony.
http://fox59.com/2015/01/19/mu...after-wifes-funeral/
MUNCIE, Ind. (Jan. 19, 2015) – A Muncie man is behind bars, charged with stealing thousands of dollars from the mortuary that held funeral services for his wife.
Raymond Sailers, 40, was arrested on January 15 after Muncie police detectives say he confessed to billing Parson Mortuary for various utility services at his East Summerview Drive home.
Sailers’ wife died in August, and her services were held at Parson Mortuary. Detectives say the scam went on for several months following the funeral before mortuary employees noticed the strange charges and reported them to police.
“We were contacted the first week of January by Parson Mortuary about some out of place withdraws on their checking account. The manger went to Star Bank, where the checking account was through, and saw there was about $2,000 of charges made to Comcast and a few utility companies,” explains Detective Kyle Monroe.
After that, Detective Monroe says he requested subpoenas for Comcast, American Electric Power (AEP) and the American Water Company to see who was paying for services using the Star Bank account.
“The phone number matched Mr. Sailers’ cell phone number. The Comcast email he set up was his middle name and his last name,” says Monroe.
Once questioned at police headquarters, Monroe says Sailers admitted to all of the charges Parson was disputing, saying he encountered financial hardships after his wife passed away.
“He’s facing a level 5 felony as of now, fraud on a financial institution, because Star Bank will reimburse Parson for the missing money,” says Monroe. “So at this point, Star Bank is the victim.”
People are being encouraged to be extremely protective of their own financial information, because police say it’s easy to become a target.
“Every banking thing you have on the internet, have a different username and password,” advises Monroe. “Any checks you throw out or carbons of checks you throw out, rip up and black out the routing numbers and account numbers.”
As of Monday afternoon, Sailers remained in the Delaware County jail on $5,000 bond. He declined interview requests by FOX59.
