Second Deputy Coroner Wally A. Woytovich and nurse’s aide Margaret M. Marino filed suit against Kevin M. Bean in 2006, alleging he assaulted them after Bean’s wife was found dead near the couple’s home.

Bean was convicted of aggravated and simple assault in January 2007, and is serving a one-to-four-year sentence.

These are the first criminal charges he has faced. The issue last year resulted in the loss of his professional license and business operating license, as well as civil litigation, but no other fallout.

The trust fund was designed to cover expenses for an estimated 49,000 people who took out policies.

The Illinois Controller’s office recently ruled that the IFDA should not have been in the pre-need insurance business; the association had been granted a license by then-controller Roland Burris, now a US Senator for Illinois.

The association is also facing a lawsuit from two consumers alleging violation of state consumer-protection laws.

A statement on the IFDA website says that Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co. FSB has assumed the responsibilities of trustee, and that any principal deposited towards pre-need accounts is safe.

Two years ago, state Department of Public Health officials accused Riley of numerous offenses, including using unlicensed people to perform embalming services, routine overbilling, and using a state contract to solicit private business. The last charge stems from claims that Riley used his exclusive contract with the State Medical Examiner’s office to have himself appointed administrator of estates of people with no relatives.

Dave Altamari of the Hartford Courant has more.

The FBI is investigating allegations of “corporate misconduct” in the downfall of the company, and doesn’t have the staffing to send agents to every funeral home in 19 of the 43 states where National Prearranged Services did business, so they’ve turned to a written survey. Agents are asking directors about their contracts with National Prearranged Services and any promises that the company may have made.

The company served some 2,600 funeral homes, and had 158,153 active preneed funeral contracts valued at nearly $662 million. NPS was placed into receivership in May of 2008, and ordered liquidated in September.

Therese Bellissimo and Robert Benedict had twins in 2003, but one, Lourdes, was still-born. The family retained the services of JS Waterman & Sons, but the funeral home lost the boy’s remains, and admitted he may have been cremated with an unrelated woman.

Local coverage here, here, and here.

I especially like how Joseph J. Leghorn, the attorney for the funeral home, admitted Waterman lost the boy’s remains, but contended that any emotional distress the Benedicts suffered was the result of the premature delivery, and the boy’s death, not the loss of his remains. Yes, I’m sure sifting through another person’s ashes wasn’t distressing at all.

Clara Plut, 20, was recently stuck waiting for a funeral procession (for Troy Fire Protection District Chief Kerry Sheridan) to pass by. I’ve worked firefighter funerals before. They’re big. Think seventy-five cars easy, along with fire apparatus. Clara got perturbed about waiting, and texted a firefighter friend of hers, making what she thought was a joking comment about killing a firefighter.

Now, I don’t know if Clara really was that ticked off about waiting for the funeral. Nor do I know how well she knew the FF she was threatening. I DO know it was a pretty stupid move for her to make, and I think she’s learning that lesson as well. She’s lucky to just be facing a DC charge. These days, she could have been facing a terroristic threats charge, or telecommunications harassment, or both.