Jan 3, 2020 2 min read

The former funeral director who pleaded guilty to stealing more than half of a million dollars from clients asked a Fayette County judge to delay his sentencing for 30 days.

Stephen E. Kezmarsky III “has advised his counsel that some of the funds upon which the defendant is relying for purposes of making restitution may not be available until late January 2020,” attorney Stephen D. Colafella wrote.

Kezmarsky, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 13.

“Additionally,” Colafella wrote, “counsel was recently informed that certain character witnesses who intend to testify on the defendant’s behalf at the sentence hearing will be unavailable during the month of January, which counsel was not made aware of at the time of the entry of (Kezmarsky’s) plea.”

Authorities alleged that between October 2005 and March 2017, Kezmarsky stole from clients who had paid in advance for funerals at the former Kezmarsky Funeral Home in Uniontown. He was charged with dozens of offenses relating to those thefts in 2018.

Early in 2019, Kezmarsky was found to have unidentified cremated remains in a storage locker, and faced even more theft-related charges.

In October, he entered general guilty pleas to many of the charges lodged against him. Because the pleas were entered generally, there is no set sentence guaranteed. At the time of the plea, Judge Steve P. Leskinen cautioned Kezmarsky that he could face a sentence that is tantamount to a life term.

The judge set aside an entire day for the sentencing hearing after prosecutors said they expected many of the victims to offer impact statements during the proceeding.

In his motion, Colafella stated that neither the Fayette County district attorney’s office nor the state attorney general’s office objected to the delay.

Kezmarsky is free on $500,000 unsecured bond.