TORONTO – There will be no trial for the owners of a southern Alberta funeral home who were accused of fraud and offering an indignity to a dead body.
On January 26, 2011, Ralph and Faith Zentner, owners of the Cornerstone Funeral Home, were charged after the couple allegedly amputated a finger from a corpse deliberately in order to remove a ring and repeatedly reused a rental casket without inserting a fresh liner before each use. On January 18, 2012, Ralph Zentner pleaded guilty in provincial court to one count of fraud and the Crown dropped the other eight charges.
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Global News takes a look back at other funeral home scams and scandals across Canada.
Harold Kirk Duffin
On April 26, 2010, Harold Kirk Duffin, owner of Duffin Simcoe Funeral Alternatives in Barrie, Ontario, was arrested and was faced with several charges, including 69 counts of fraud under $5,000.
Late last year, Duffin was sentenced to two years of house and was ordered to pay back the money he took after he pleaded guilty to defrauding seniors of their money on prepaid funerals.
Fred Netherton
In December 2007, the former operator-owner of a Princeton funeral home was charged with 38 criminal charges related to giving grieving families the wrong cremation ashes.
In 2009, Fred Netherton received a sentence of 12 months’ house arrest and a six-month curfew.
Timmy Lynn Smith
On September 27, 2002, Timmy Lynn Smith, a Mattawa businessman, was charged for allowing bodies to decay and switching ashes.
In December 2010, Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 month in jail.
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