Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
An ex-owner of cemeteries in four states has been sentenced to between 32 months and 10 years in prison for embezzling $4.2
million from a Grand Rapids cemetery.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday that Robert Nelms received the sentence from Kent County Circuit Judge
George S. Buth.
The 41-year-old repaid the money he stole from Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, which his Indianapolis-based company operated.
He pleaded guilty in September.
Nelms also has owned cemeteries in Indiana, Iowa and Ohio. He agreed to sell 11 cemeteries to replenish prepaid funeral and
burial funds.
In May, he was
sentenced in Marion County to eight years in community corrections after pleading guilty to theft and fraud. Nelms
was accused of raiding millions of dollars from trust accounts of Indianapolis-based Memory Gardens Management Corp.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.