Ex-S. Ind. funeral director sentenced for fraud

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — A former southern Indiana funeral home director has been given a six-year prison sentence on charges that he cashed burial insurance policies of several people who were still alive.

A Clark County judge on Monday sentenced 45-year-old Richard Pyke after he pleaded guilty to numerous felony counts, including theft, fraud and violating the state’s cremation laws.

The News and Tribune reports police arrested Pyke in 2010 after authorities found five bodies at his Henryville funeral home and some people learned the cremation ashes they received weren’t the remains of their relatives.

The Courier-Journal reports Pyke said in court that he got into financial trouble after borrowing money to buy the funeral home and started taking the pre-paid funeral money to pay for improvements to the business and personal purchases.