Indiana: Casket Salesman Sentenced for Bilking the Elderly

Leigh Ann Banta's father, Paul Hogan, lay in his grave without a headstone for a year, though he had paid for one years before.

Her mother, Helen Hogan, joined her husband Paul in January and was buried in a mahogany casket that had been stolen, unbeknownst to Banta at the time.

"My mother will lay in eternity in stolen property," Banta said through tears. "That would kill her all over again."

The man behind her parents' pre-need funeral arrangements, Robert Kraft, was sentenced in Jefferson Circuit Court on Tuesday to five years in prison for stealing more than $30,000 from elderly victims and their families through a funeral goods business.

Kraft, 53, of Sellersburg, Ind., pleaded guilty in June to 20 felony counts, specifically 11 counts of theft, one count of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult and eight counts of failure to put money he received for pre-payment of funeral goods into a trust, as mandated by state law.

Kraft sold pre-need caskets and vaults to six Louisville residents between November 2011 and November 2012, according to his indictment. Kraft did not deposit the money into a trust account, and both sides said in court Tuesday that Kraft used it to pay off personal debts.

Having long ago cashed the Hogans' check, Kraft lied to the family about the reason he was not able to provide a headstone for Paul Hogan and to a Louisville funeral home director to secure the mahogany casket for Helen Hogan.

Judge James Shake cited the ongoing, repetitive criminal nature of Kraft's activities upon sentencing, noting the conscious choice to commit the acts.

Kraft also faces six charges of theft and intentional misuse of funds in Clark County Circuit Court in Indiana, according to court records.

Source:
Casket Salesman Sentenced for Bilking Elderly