A local funeral director has been arrested for allegedly bilking a widow out of money and then failing to cremate her husband.
Charles Allen Hancock, of Fort Meade, was booked into the Polk County Jail on Dec. 6, on a grand theft charge following an investigation by the Criminal Investigations Division of the Bureau of Insurance Fraud.
The 54-year-old was released on Dec. 7 after posting $5,000 bond.
The charge reportedly stems from an incident that occurred Sept. 9.
Hancock, funeral director of Hancock Funeral Home, reportedly took $1,919 from Susan McAuley in exchange for cremating her husband’s body and issuing a death certificate.
“Charles Allen Hancock then failed to facilitate the cremation of the body,” Lt. Michael Scott of the Bureau of Insurance Fraud noted in charging documents.
Hancock, it is alleged, also did not file the death certificate with vital statistics within 5 days as required.
The widow, Susan McAuley, was forced to “pay again for this service.”
Hancock, the report states, was contacted multiple times by McAuley and the Department of Vital Statistics.
“Charles Allen Hancock provided false and misleading information to Susan regarding the status of the death certificates and ultimately did not file the death certificate in a timely manner or provide the services she paid for,” the report states.
Hancock is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. at the Polk County Courthouse.