KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
A man who operated a Westport funeral home stole about $53,000 from 39 grieving families and gave the wrong cremated remains to several families, according to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.
Koster charged Ronald C. Marts, 60, with stealing and unlawful business practices. Marts had operated Marts Memorial Home at 14 Westport Rd. from June 2005 to March 2011.
Marts declined comment Monday.
According to court documents, Marts accepted payment from consumers for pre-paid funeral services but failed to establish a trust fund for these monies. This meant he took $53,000 from his customers but failed to provide a safety net once he went out of business.
Marts is also accused of providing the wrong cremated remains to consumers. In some cases, he gave remains to grieving family members before their loved one had even been cremated, Koster's office said.
Court documents say the funeral home gave Hadley Cutburth ashes that weren't his wife's. His wife died July 23, 2010, and Marts gave the family an urn with ashes July 27, during Soledad Cutburth's funeral service. On Aug. 16, Cutburth called to receive his wife's death certificate. He was told the certificate was at the funeral home, along with his wife's remains.
Alarmed, Cutburth raced to the funeral home. According to court documents, he caught Kathy Marts attempting to remove a label from a box with his wife's name. He called police and was told that his wife's remains were in two boxes. Cutburth later learned his wife was cremated in Harrisonville about an hour after her funeral service began, according to court documents.
Marts faces up to 15 years in prison for the most serious charge. The other felony charges also carry prison sentences if Marts is convicted.
Andrew Smith, an attorney for Cutburth, spoke to KCTV5 Monday.
"I think we've all known for a very long time that some very bad things happened there," Smith said. "Because of the way those services were handled in many instances, my clients and their families have no idea where their loved ones' remains are even today."
Smith said heartbroken families are glad to see the charges brought, but will never have closure because of the uncertainty over the status of their loved ones' remains.
"We've waited a long time because we know the attorney general has done a very thorough investigation," Smith said. "I know our clients will be glad the fruit of the investigation is going to be born out."
P.J. Fisher told KCTV that she is one of Marts' victims. She said she is still paying off the loan for her father's burial that Marts never provided. She expects to never get back her more than $3,000 that she pre-paid for funeral services.
Instead, she was forced to cremate her father because she couldn't afford to pay for costs to a second funeral home. She said months later it still hurts because she feels that she let her father and family down.
"I had the suit picked out for Dad and everything. And then I had to tell them I couldn't do it," she said. "This was my Dad that I wanted to do right by til the end. And I wasn't able to carry out his wishes."
The state sought to revoke Marts' license. Another funeral home has taken over the operations at the Westport address.
If you paid money to Ronald C. Marts or Marts Memorial Services for funeral services that have not been provided, you are asked to contact the Attorney General's Office Consumer Hotline at 1-800-392-8222 or go online to https://www.ago.mo.gov/.
To find out about a funeral home's license status in Missouri, click here. In Kansas, click here and here.
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