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Thursday Morning Document, Plot, And Grave Examination Turns Up Additional Problems for Sci and Their Menorah Gardens Cemetery

They operate under the words “Dignity Memorial,” but dozens of area families don't believe they have been treated with dignity or honesty, and have filed suit against Menorah Gardens and its parent company Service Corporation International (SCI). Most recently two SCI managers were charged with felonies by the Florida Attorney General's office. Moreover, SCI agreed to a settlement with the Attorney General's office that fined the company more than $14 million.

This morning (Thursday, August 28, 2003), attorney, Ted Leopold of the West Palm Beach firm Ricci~Leopold continued an investigation on behalf of the more than 60 families that the firm represents in suits against Menorah. Over the course of the next several months, the firm along with examiners will be exhuming remains, examining plots for the appropriate space between graves, checking vaults and continuing with a thorough examination of grounds and records. The first grave examination began on Wednesday with the firm finding numerous irregularities with the examination of the first single gravesite. This morning Leopold and his team found that Menorah Gardens had:

1. Changed grave numbers in order to cover up the fact that it had sold a plot to two different families - and subsequently relocated other graves
2. Buried bodies in sites different than those contracted
3. additionally, provided less than one inch between plots - thus when another plot is needed the a burial vault may not fit in the plot next to that that is occupied “one inch allows for no settling of earth or movement whatsoever” said attorney, Ted Leopold.

Human remains have been found in the woods adjacent to the cemetery in Palm Beach Gardens. Our investigation will continue. We are taking steps with each individual family to learn what Menorah has done in each case. What we are finding is a continuing pattern of fraud. Even Menorah's statements to the media are not truthful. They have something different to proclaim to every media outlet. The facts are in front of us, and the evidence against SCI will continue to mount, as we proceed with this pre-trial investigation.

The families involved in this case are our first concern. These folks have been under great stress and deal with an unyielding burden of not knowing the disposition of their loved ones. We are trying to get them some honest answers, which are obviously not forthcoming.

The civil suit that Ricci~Leopold has filed on behalf of the more than 60 families states a number of claims against Menorah Gardens/SCI which include secretly breaking and opening burial vaults and dumping remains in a wooded area where they may have been consumed by wild animals; burying remains in locations other than those purchased by families; crushing burial vaults in order to make room for other vaults; burying remains on top of the other remains rather than side-by-side; secretly mixing body parts and remains from different individuals'secretly allowing plots owned by one party to be occupied by a different person; secretly allowing graves to encroach on other plots; selling plots so narrow that the grave could not accommodate industry standard burial vaults; desecrating graves and markers while failing to exercise reasonable care in handling the plantiff's loved ones remains.

The Attorney General's office has already determined that Menorah Gardens/SCI have broken the laws. There is no question about what has been done now, what seems to be most pressing is how extensive is this fraud, and will these families ever be able to really now if their loved one is where they should be at the cemetery, and if not, where are the remains. We are trying to get some answers but it takes more than one-half day to examine graves, vaults and sometimes remains to ascertain anything. On Wednesday and today we examined two sites and documents related to them. This is a slow process for these families, but it will continue in the weeks to come. The company's 'Dignity Memorial' holds enormous irony…these families in this case have not been treated with dignity or honesty, and even as we try and get answers for them at this moment, SCI does everything in its power to prevent that from happening.