Man posed as funeral director, mortician, allegedly stole life insurance money of dead people
HOUSTON – Two people have been arrested, accused of using a fraudulent Houston funeral business to forge signatures and steal thousands of dollars by illegally obtaining the life insurance policies from the families of deceased loved ones.
Javian Major is charged with forgery while Sandy Broussard is charged with theft. Both are felonies.
The Harris County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office said they, along with the Texas Rangers, investigated the case after the Texas Funeral Service Commission received numerous complaints that the two were operating without a funeral business license.
“Allegedly, the duo conspired to forge beneficiaries’ signatures, illicitly obtaining life insurance funds and stealing thousands. Some cases report the disappearance of loved ones’ remains,” the constable’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
Multiple people claim they have been victimized by the two. Authorities said the two were working together to scam the victims out of thousands.
“It turns my stomach because you’re dealing with people at the most vulnerable time of their lives after they’ve lost somebody that they loved and cared for,” said Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen. “And for me, that’s what makes this case so important. The victims, the families behind me are people that were taken advantage of. They were, manipulated. And they were completely snowballed. And fraud was committed against them.”
According to Rosen, Major would tell unsuspecting people that he was a funeral director get their confidence, and get them to send him money. He would eventually convince them to give him insurance policy information before allegedly forging signatures on documents and taking the insurance money. He said many times, the families were supposed to have funeral services done for their loved ones, and many times, it did not happen.
“In many instances, people were supposed to get the ashes of their