Former caretaker ordered to trial in Charleroi Cemetery theft case
CHARLEROI – A Rostraver used car dealer accused of raiding the neglected Charleroi Cemetery’s perpetual care account lost money while he was its caretaker and spent the money legitimately, his attorney claims.
Prosecutors disagree, claiming there has been no documentation that Joseph Minkovich spent the nearly $28,000 that was drained from the trust fund on anything other than his benefit while he was it caretaker, testimony indicated at the suspect’s preliminary hearing Monday.
“That money is gone,” Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said at Minkovich’s hearing before District Judge Larry Hopkins.
Hopkins ruled there was sufficient testimony presented before him to forward Minkovich’s charges to Washington County Court.
Minkovich was then released on $5,000 unsecured bond. He was charged in September with three felony counts of theft and two counts of dealing in the proceeds of illegal activities. Vittone’s office entered the case after people with relatives buried in the cemetery in Fallowfield Township complained to him about its condition after Memorial Day.
Investigators found knee-high grass there and one grave that was never filled entirely with soil, and state police were called back to the property after unburied crematory remains were discovered in a shed at the cemetery off Deanbroggi Road. The remains since have been buried on the property.
Minkovich, who owns Rostraver Motors, is accused of notifying BNY Mellon on Aug. 12, 2010, to sell all of the cemetery trust’s shares, close the account and issue the check to Charleroi Cemetery in care of himself, the affidavit supporting the charges indicates.
Police claim he then purchased two certificates of deposit with the money and used them as a personal loan under an account that wasn’t connected to the cemetery. The money was used to pay his “personal debt,” as well as to purchase food, utilities, gasoline and other merchandise, court records allege.
His attorney, Neil Marcus, said evidence will be presented to the higher court that Minkovich has receipts for cemetery expenditures totally nearly $20,000 while he was its caretaker for three years, beginning in 2009.
“There was very little money coming in,” Marcus said following the hearing.
Marcus said his client was spending $8,000 a year taking care of the cemetery, while its burials brought in less than $1,000 a year.
“That is what happened,” he said.