Dozens of charges withdrawn for funeral director accused of keeping remains in locker
Dozens of charges of abuse of a corpse and intentional desecration of a public monument were withdrawn against a former funeral director who was accused of keeping cremated remains in a storage locker.
Stephen E. Kezmarsky III, 51, of Uniontown waived his remaining charges, including theft, tampering with records and obstruction of justice, to the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday. His $500,000 bond was changed to unsecured, meaning he does not have to post bail to be released. Kezmarsky will be under house arrest on electronic monitoring as a condition of his release.
Kezmarsky was already facing charges in separate cases for allegedly stealing about $600,000 from more than 150 victims who were pre-paying for funerals at the former Kezmarsky Funeral Home between October 2005 and March 2017. The new charges stem from the discovery of records and remains kept in plastic containers, which were found in a storage locker rented by a relative.
Officials are still working to identify the remains of 21 people found in the locker at Holiday Park Storage. Fourteen of those remains were not labeled. They also found boxes of paperwork related to the funeral home business. Kezmarsky previously denied having additional paperwork, investigators said.
Twenty-one misdemeanor counts each of abuse of a corpse and intentional desecration of a public monument were withdrawn. He still faces seven felony counts of theft, 14 counts of tampering with records and 21 counts of obstruction of justice, which are misdemeanors. He entered a general waiver, meaning he did not agree to a tentative plea deal.
Kezmarsky is represented by attorney Stephen Colafella of Beaver.