TORONTO – An Indiana man is facing felony charges of fraud and theft after he was accused of stealing personal items from deceased patrons at the funeral home where he worked.
Joshua Cizek, 31, was working as a landscaper at the Rullman-Hunger Funeral Home in Aurora, Indiana, and allegedly had access to the personal items given to the funeral home by family members of the deceased.
According to court documents, Cizek stole two diamond rings and a gold crucifix cross necklace from two deceased women, allegedly in an effort to satisfy a heroin habit.
“It’s certainly an unusual case. We don’t have people stealing from funeral homes everyday but given the fact it’s a heroin addict, it’s not surprising,” Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard told WLWT-5 News in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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The theft of the gold crucifix in particular was a massive red flag, as it contained a special significance for one family.
Funeral home client Robert Hurd said his mother wore the necklace every day, and it was her last wish to be buried with it.
But when the family arrived for the funeral service on June 1, they noticed the gold cross was missing.
“This was her last wish and in the end we could not do that for her, so I don’t know how you really describe how that feels,” Hurd said.
Negangard said that Cizek’s alleged heroin addiction was a powerful motivator that may have caused him to risk such a brazen theft.
“My experience dealing with heroin, they’ll steal from anybody or anything, they’ll steal from loved ones, they’ll steal from people they don’t know, anything to get any sort of money so they can go get their fix,” Negangard said.
Cizek is facing three felony counts, fraud on a financial institution, fraud, and theft. He is currently being held at the Dearborn County Jail on $30,000 bail.
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