Fayette DA asks judge to reconsider ex-funeral director’s sentence
The Fayette County district attorney wants a judge to reconsider the sentence for a former funeral director who stole more than $555,000 from 114 victims after a check for a portion of the restitution paid on his behalf was returned.
Stephen E. Kezmarsky III, 52, told the court at his sentencing last week that $160,000 in restitution had been paid toward the money owed his victims. Judge Steve P. Leskinen said he considered the partial restitution as a mitigating factor when he sentenced Kezmarsky to 4 to 8 years in prison, despite a request from District Attorney Rich Bower for a 15- to- 30-year sentence.
However, Bower wrote in a motion filed Monday, a $50,000 check written by Lawrence Glad toward that $160,000 was returned by the bank.
Bower contended Kezmarsky “knew or should have known that this check was no good as Lawrence Glad … told the clerk of courts that he (Glad) had told the person to whom he delivered the check not to present the check until moneys had been deposited into the account at First National Bank.”
The check was given to the clerk of courts office on Feb. 24, and marked returned for insufficient funds on Feb. 25, the day Kezmarsky was sentenced.
Bower asked Leskinen to consider modifying Kezmarsky’s sentence, noting that $110,000 – not the $160,000 stated in court – was paid in restitution on his behalf.
The motion argued Kezmarsky deceived the court and also called the sentence “an abuse of discretion.”
The motion further said Kezmarsky lived an extravagant lifestyle funded by the money he took because “his children did not have to take out student loans, drove nice cars and lived in a different type of lifestyle than others.”
Bower wrote the effect on the victims was not considered in the sentence, saying the thefts went beyond finances and were “devastating” to them.
“Further, he took advantage of individuals at the most vulnerable time of their lives,” Bower wrote.
Kezmarsky pleaded guilty to hundreds of counts relating to charges that he stole money from clients who pre-paid for their funerals or who paid him for other services he did not perform. Bower noted in his request for a stronger sentence that each count involving a victim over age 60 could have carried a one-year sentence.
Glad’s check was one of four written on Kezmarsky’s behalf. The remaining three came from Uniontown residents Alan George ($50,000), Matthew George ($35,000) and Robert Kezmarsky ($25,000).