Consumer Protection
Funeral fraud, price gouging, and enforcement actions protecting grieving families.
30 DAYS FOR THREE YEARS OF THEFT: A Connecticut Monument Dealer Pled Guilty. The Sentence Angered Families.
Eric Reichbart, owner of Spartan Stone and Monument in New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced to five years in prison, suspended after 30 days, plus three years of probation. He pleaded guilty to third-degree larceny after taking thousands of dollars in deposits from families for headstones that were never delivered. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong filed a parallel civil lawsuit. It is the third major headstone fraud case Obitley has documented. The same regulatory gap runs through all three.
TWO DEADBOT COMPANIES HAVE ALREADY FAILED: What Happens to Your Loved One's AI When the Subscription Ends
StoryFile filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2024. HereAfter AI is shutting down. The griefbot industry has produced two confirmed company failures in 18 months, and no regulator covers what happens to the data.
$10 PER SESSION, $240 PER YEAR: The Real Cost of Chatting With the Dead
Project December charges $10 per 100 messages. You, Only Virtual costs $20 per month. HereAfter AI shut down without warning. No regulation governs what happens to a digital recreation of your loved one when the company fails or the subscription lapses.
CASKET SUSPENDED OVER AN OPEN GRAVE: A California DA Says Two Funeral Homes Overcharged 1,000 Families
The owners of two legacy Woodland, California funeral homes face a civil enforcement action after a DA investigation found $500,000 in overcharges across 1,000+ families over four and a half years. The complaint describes forged signatures, false government filings, and a funeral where employees threatened to leave a casket hanging over an open grave.
6,500 ASHES, ONE LANDFILL: A Funeral Director's Pet Cremation Fraud Exposed a Regulatory Vacuum
A licensed Pennsylvania funeral director collected $657,517 for private pet cremations between 2021 and 2024. Thousands of animals went to a landfill. The FTC Funeral Rule does not cover pet cremation. Pennsylvania's House passed remedial legislation 199 to 0. The Senate has not held a single committee meeting on it.
ONE IN FOUR: The Real Reason Americans Keep Cremated Remains at Home
CANA research finds 25% of Americans store cremated remains at home. The trade group calls it a crisis and is selling permanent placement as the fix. The actual driver is cost. Direct cremation runs $1,500. A columbarium niche adds $2,500 on top. Families are not neglecting their dead. They cannot afford the second purchase.
ZERO PERCENT INTEREST, EIGHT PERCENT FEE: Foundation Partners Brought Buy-Now-Pay-Later to the Funeral Arrangement Table
Foundation Partners Group partnered with fintech Lilypay to sell grieving families installment plans. The lender markets 0 percent interest ever. The fee is up to 8 percent. No federal agency tracks funeral BNPL defaults.
500 FAMILIES, $1.5 MILLION: The Headstone Fraud Case No Regulator Stopped
Gregory J. Stefan Jr. pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud after collecting $1.5 million from nearly 500 families for headstones he never delivered. The FTC Funeral Rule does not cover standalone monument dealers. No state requires escrow for upfront payments.
IF YOU PAID FOR A HEADSTONE AND NEVER RECEIVED IT: Federal Prosecutors Want to Hear From You
Gregory Stefan Jr. defrauded nearly 500 families across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Jeffrey Phares defrauded dozens of families across four West Virginia cemeteries. Both pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud. Both cases are in pre-sentencing restitution phases. If you paid either man for a headstone or grave marker that was never delivered, federal prosecutors need your documentation — and the deadlines are tied to sentencing dates that have not yet been set.