Michael Naughton kept arranging funerals for seven years after New York State revoked his license to do so, if prosecutors have it right. What ended the run, per state officials, was a Jan. 30 inspection that found 13 bodies in various states of decomposition and 17 boxes of cremated remains inside his funeral home, with no death certificate on file for any of them.
A 20-count indictment unsealed April 1, 2026 charges Naughton, 55, of Baldwin, with grand larceny, forgery, scheme to defraud and unlicensed practice of funeral directing at Camelot Funeral Home, 174 Stevens Ave., Mount Vernon. Attorney General Letitia James announced the charges. If convicted of the top count, Naughton faces up to seven years in prison.
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By the Numbers
What the inspection found
The unannounced Jan. 30, 2026 inspection by the state Department of Health's Bureau of Funeral Directing found six decomposing bodies in the chapels and three more in a detached garage, two of those stacked on top of one another, according to the Attorney General's release. Seventeen boxes of cremated remains sat in the basement. The criminal complaint, as described by News 12 and lohud, states no death certificate could be located for any individual on the premises.
State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald issued an emergency order the same day directing Camelot to cease operations, turn over all documentation related to human remains in its custody, and cooperate with officials on disposition.
"The violations and alleged crimes uncovered at Camelot Funeral Home demonstrate why only licensed funeral directors should be entrusted with the care of human remains," McDonald said in the April 1 release.
Twenty counts
Obitley obtained the indictment itself, Indictment No. 26-007723. Its caption reads Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester, unsealed before Judge Melissa A. Loehr; the Attorney General's release had described the venue as Westchester County Court.
The counts break down as follows: three counts of grand larceny in the third degree, each alleging stolen property worth more than $3,000; five counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree, each above $1,000; one count of attempted grand larceny in the third degree; one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, for a forged burial transit permit, the document required to move a body to burial or cremation; one count of scheme to defraud in the first degree; and nine misdemeanor counts of unlicensed practice of funeral directing, each tied to an individual decedent.
The theft counts concern money families paid for at-need funerals. No count alleges theft from a preneed trust fund. The scheme count alleges that between May 27, 2025 and Jan. 31, 2026, Naughton held himself out as a licensed director, negotiated prices, signed contracts, arranged transport, presided over services and oversaw disposition of remains, collecting more than $1,000 from more than one person. The release puts the total at thousands of dollars stolen from dozens of New Yorkers; the indictment states no aggregate figure, and victim names are redacted from the public copy.
A charge is an accusation. Naughton is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, and his attorneys had no comment, per News 12.
Seven years between revocation and indictment
The timeline is the part no one has explained. The Bureau of Funeral Directing revoked Naughton's personal license in 2019. The reason has not been reported by any outlet, and the disciplinary file is not public. ABC7NY reported Camelot itself was shut down in 2021 and later reopened. The criminal complaint states the establishment's license to operate was suspended in May 2025 and that Naughton knew it. The funerals charged in the indictment run from October 2025 through January 2026.
Revocation in 2019, a shutdown in 2021, a suspension in May 2025, and bodies recovered in January 2026: each step is documented. What connects them, and what the Bureau did in between, is not.
Obitley has requested the 2019 revocation file, the May 2025 suspension order and the Jan. 30, 2026 emergency order from the Department of Health under the Freedom of Information Law.
The families
Aloma Washington told News 12 and ABC7 that her mother, Estella Washington, 74, died Nov. 25, 2025 and her memorial was held at Camelot. The body was still there roughly three months later, and no death certificate existed for her, per the reports. "I'm hoping that it's counting more families, and not just one, cause all those bodies mattered," Washington said of the indictment.
"That was hurtful to pay the money and to find out weeks later that your people ain't even being buried," Phillip Boice told News 12.
Annmarie Cherry told News 12 that when her grandmother was handled at Camelot in 2022, the death certificate listed a different funeral home, DeKalb Funeral Home in Brooklyn, under director Tahir M. Khan.
The Attorney General's Office has asked affected families to write to [email protected], and James reminded consumers to verify a director's license on the Department of Health's public roster before making arrangements.
The investigation is not over
Naughton was first charged Feb. 4, 2026 with a single misdemeanor count of operating without a license, to which he pleaded not guilty in Mount Vernon City Court. "Everything's still premature," he told News 12 on Feb. 12, as investigators from the Attorney General's Office, Mount Vernon police and the Westchester County Crime Scene Unit executed a search warrant at the building.
The last court date in public reporting is April 8, 2026, set at the unsealing. No proceeding since then has been reported.
The property keeps producing news. In early August 2026, PIX11 captured remains being moved from a hearse parked on the lot; the Attorney General's Office said the investigation continues. On Sept. 22, 2026, police returned to Camelot again, per News 12. A city spokesperson said only that the incident remains under active investigation by the Attorney General's Office. A man who answered the funeral home's door in August, identifying himself as the owner, told News 12: "No comment."
What This Means for You
*Obitley will update this article as the Department of Health responds to the records request and as court proceedings in Indictment No. 26-007723 are confirmed.*
*Sources: New York Attorney General press release, April 1, 2026; Indictment No. 26-007723, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Westchester, unsealed April 1, 2026, obtained by Obitley; lohud, February 5, 2026; News 12 Westchester and Hudson Valley coverage of February 6, February 12, April 1 and August 5, 2026, and September 22, 2026; ABC7NY, February 9, 2026; PIX11, August 2026.*
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