The family of D.T. had arranged a Saturday funeral at a Woodland, California cemetery. Paul and Lailene Wiggins, owners of Kraft Brothers Funeral Directors and McNary's Chapel, told the family their cemetery did not hold Saturday funerals. They collected $7,200. Then they demanded an additional $690 for a "weekend service" fee.
When the family balked, employees at the funeral home threatened to leave the casket suspended on a crane over the open grave until the family paid.
The family paid.
This is one of dozens of specific allegations in a 34-page civil enforcement complaint filed by the Yolo County District Attorney's Consumer Fraud Division on August 29, 2025. The complaint alleges that Paul Wiggins and Lailene Villaret Wiggins, who have owned both funeral homes since 1998, systematically overcharged more than 1,000 families out of more than $500,000 between January 2020 and June 2024.
By the Numbers
How the overcharging worked
The complaint describes nine categories of fraud. None of them involve a failure to deliver services. In every case, funerals were held and bodies were buried. The fraud was in the price.
The Wigginses inflated nearly every line item on the funeral bill, according to the DA's complaint. They listed charges higher than the prices on their General Price List, the document the FTC Funeral Rule requires every funeral home to give customers. When families received their bills, they had no way to know the quoted price was different from the GPL rate because the funeral home failed to provide pricing documents.
The family of M.L.T. was charged $1,140 for body transport. The GPL listed price was $475. They were also charged $1,935 for a funeral director fee when no funeral was held.
The Wigginses labeled inflated charges as "cash advances," the industry term for third-party costs passed through to families. Funeral homes bill families for cemetery fees, crematory charges, and death certificates at cost. The complaint alleges that Kraft Brothers and McNary's inflated crematory and refrigeration fees and pocketed the difference.
They added a quarter-percent to the sales tax. Woodland's rate is 8%. The funeral homes charged 8.25% and kept the excess.
They added administrative fees for credit card processing, notary services, transportation, and mailing. They forged customer signatures on documents without authorization.
In one preneed insurance case, a family was forced to pay more than $3,000 out of pocket for expenses that should have been covered by the policy. The complaint alleges the Wigginses failed to honor guaranteed pricing terms and did not apply the full policy benefit amount.
They submitted false dates of disposition to the Yolo County Clerk-Recorder's Office. They failed to register deaths within eight days, as required by California law.
A 162-year-old funeral home
Kraft Brothers Funeral Directors has operated in Woodland since 1862. McNary's Chapel opened in 1969. Both are legacy institutions in a city of 61,000 people. The Wigginses bought both in 1998 and ran them for more than two decades before the alleged fraud began.
Approximately one year before the complaint was filed, the Kraft Brothers building at 175 Second Street was listed for sale with an asking price of $870,000. The DA's complaint does not allege the listing is part of the fraud. But the timing raises questions about whether the owners were moving assets ahead of the enforcement action.
Civil, not criminal
The Yolo County District Attorney filed this case as a civil consumer protection action. The complaint seeks restitution for affected families, civil penalties, and injunctive relief.
No one has been arrested. No licenses have been revoked. The case is pending in Yolo County Superior Court.
This is the standard enforcement path for price gouging and consumer fraud in California. Deputy District Attorney Clara Morain Nabity, who filed the complaint, works in the DA's Consumer Fraud and Environmental Protection Division. That division handles cases under California's Unfair Competition Law and consumer protection statutes.
Civil enforcement can produce restitution and penalties. It does not produce prison sentences. The Wigginses could owe hundreds of thousands of dollars and face a court order restricting their business practices. Whether they lose their funeral director licenses depends on action by the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, which licenses funeral establishments in the state. No license revocation has been reported.
The DA's office set up a public hotline for additional victims: (855) 496-5632.
Different system, same vulnerability
Obitley reported in June on Gregory Stefan Jr., an unlicensed headstone salesman who took $1.5 million from 500 families for headstones he never delivered. Stefan fell through a regulatory gap. He was not a funeral provider under the FTC Funeral Rule because he sold goods only, not services. No state board had jurisdiction because he was not a licensed funeral director.
The Wigginses were licensed. They operated licensed funeral establishments. They were subject to the FTC Funeral Rule, California's consumer protection laws, and oversight by the state funeral bureau. Every regulatory mechanism that did not apply to Stefan applied to them.
They are alleged to have overcharged families anyway, for four and a half years.
The difference comes down to enforcement. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide a General Price List. Kraft Brothers and McNary's had one. The complaint alleges they simply ignored it, quoting families higher prices and withholding the document. No regulator audited their pricing. No inspector compared their GPL to their actual bills. The fraud continued until a DA's office investigation uncovered it.
The FTC Funeral Rule has no routine inspection requirement. Compliance is complaint-driven. If no one complains to the right agency, the rule is not enforced. The Yolo County case shows what happens during the gap between a rule on paper and a rule in practice.
What families should do
Federal law gives families specific tools when arranging a funeral. Using them can catch overcharging before the bill is paid.
Get the General Price List in writing before you select services. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide it. If the quoted price does not match the GPL, ask why.
Ask for an itemized statement. Every charge should have a description. "Cash advance" items should include the name of the third-party vendor and the exact amount. If the funeral home marks up cash advances, that markup should appear as a separate, disclosed fee.
Question any fee you do not understand. Transportation, refrigeration, and administrative fees are common, but they should match the GPL. Sales tax should match the local rate exactly.
If you suspect overcharging, file complaints with three entities: the FTC, the state funeral board (in California, the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau at the Department of Consumer Affairs), and the local district attorney's consumer fraud division. The Yolo County case started because someone complained to the right office.
*Sources: Yolo County District Attorney, Consumer Fraud Division, press release, Sept. 3, 2025. Yolo County Superior Court civil complaint, filed Aug. 29, 2025. Davis Enterprise, Sept. 3, 2025 (updated Sept. 16, 2025). Hoodline, Sept. 2025. Associated Press via MSN syndication, Sept. 2025. FTC Funeral Rule, 16 CFR Part 453.*
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