September 24, 2009

LANSING -Attorney General Mike Cox today announced that Robert Earl Nelms pleaded guilty to two felonies for embezzling more than $4.2 million in cemetery trust funds from Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in Grand Rapids, and failing to properly administer numerous funeral contracts over a three year period.

            "Stealing from the dead is a betrayal of the highest order," said Cox.  "Families who have laid their loved ones to rest have a rightful expectation that this sacred ground will forever be protected."

            Late yesterday before Kent County Circuit Court Judge George S. Buth, Nelms, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement and one count of failing to trust funeral contracts.  Nelms will serve a prison term of 20-120 months for the embezzlement charge and 20-60 months for the failure to trust count.  Under Michigan law the terms of incarceration are served concurrently.  Nelms, of Indiana, also must pay restitution of more than $4,256,000.00, which will be returned to the cemetery's trust accounts.  If Nelms fails to pay restitution at the time of his sentencing, he will be required to serve 3 to 10 years in prison for embezzlement and 3 to 5 years for the failure to trust. 

In December 2007, a joint Attorney General and Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth (DELEG) investigation uncovered the theft, resulting in criminal charges and forcing Nelms to lose control of Chapel Hill Cemetery.  In total, it is alleged Nelms stole more than $24 million from cemeteries and funeral homes he controlled in Michigan and Indiana.  He did this by selling cemetery products and services but failing to deposit the required portion in trust for cemetery upkeep and consumers' use.  Approximately $4.2 million dollars were from the Grand Rapids cemetery, with Nelms facing charges in Indiana for the rest.

This is the second defendant convicted by Attorney General Cox for involvement in a major theft of cemetery trust funds.  Carter Green of Nevada was convicted in Wayne County Circuit court in December of 2007 for his role in aiding co-defendant Clayton Smart.  Cox alleges that Smart embezzled as much as $70 million in cemetery trust funds from 28 Michigan cemeteries.  Clayton Smart is awaiting trial in Tennessee on related charges.  Upon completion of that trial, Smart will be transferred to Michigan for arraignment on charges filed by Cox.

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