Dawson Funeral Home owner fined, has licences revoked
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — An investigation into allegations involving the misappropriation of funds for pre-arranged funerals has resulted within the proprietor of Dawson Funeral Home in Crapaud being fined and having his skilled licences revoked.
The choice to revoke Lowell Oakes’ funeral director and funeral dwelling operator licences was made just lately by the Prince Edward Island Funeral Providers and Professions Board and printed on the group’s web site in April.
Along with the licences being revoked, Oakes was fined a complete of $15,000 payable to the group.
The matter started with a routine inspection of funeral properties on P.E.I. in August 2021. The board determined to additional inquire into Dawson Funeral House and employed the accounting agency Grant Thornton as an inspector to analyze allegations based mostly on a criticism.
Based mostly on the inspector’s report, a committee of the board decided that the funeral dwelling accepted $587,889.06 complete in pre-arranged funeral funds from 119 people.
The funeral dwelling additionally misappropriated $316,790.98 in funds and defrauded various people out of their bought pre-arranged funerals. As properly, it was decided that the funeral dwelling’s record-keeping practices had been beneath skilled and business requirements.
Oakes supplied the board with written responses to the allegations and the findings within the Grant Thornton report.
In a single response, Oakes signifies that eight people had their misappropriated cash refunded in full; though the board concluded that these refunds did not embody curiosity and that the operator did not put the funds in a belief account as required.
Oakes additionally argues that 5 of the pre-arranged funeral contracts had been used for insurance coverage preparations and that no funds had been acquired, whereas in two different cases these funds had been deposited in a belief account and two extra cases had been quotes for headstones. With respect to the 2 cases the place it’s argued the funds had been put in a belief, the board concludes that occurred previous to Oakes taking possession of the enterprise.
Oakes additionally says that regardless that the funds of 16 folks had been initially misappropriated, these people nonetheless had their funeral companies supplied. The board’s response to this declare is that there could not have been sufficient in funds to cowl these funerals and {that a} portion of them will need to have been paid for by different purchasers’ misappropriated pre-arranged and bizarre funeral funds.
Total, the board concluded that Oakes breached the P.E.I. Funeral Providers and Professions Act and Laws. As properly, the board says that since Oakes did not account for any of the misappropriated funds, he would have probably continued to pay for pre-arranged funeral companies with misappropriated funds if he hadn’t been caught.
Courtroom paperwork additionally present that three civil issues had been filed in opposition to the funeral dwelling claiming that funds had been misappropriated relating to pre-arranged funerals. Two of these issues are nonetheless ongoing. In a 3rd matter, the complainants had been awarded $14,689.75 in an April 21 judgment in opposition to Oakes and the funeral dwelling.
The P.E.I. RCMP additionally launched an investigation right into a criticism of economic irregularities and misappropriated pre-arranged funeral funds at Dawson Funeral House. On Could 5, a spokesperson for the RCMP mentioned that investigation continues to be ongoing.
Terrence McEachern is a justice reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. [email protected] @terry_mcn
