FraudNews
09-24-2013, 10:31 AM
Two owners of a memorial company in Meyersdale are charged with fraudulent business practices after they allegedly took customers’ money and did not deliver the finished product.
Meyersdale residents Roger Paul Lichty, 61, and Fred Eugene Lichty, 66, own Cook & Lintz Memorials and were charged after the Somerset County District Attorney’s office filed a complaint, accusing the pair of cashing thousands of dollars’ worth of checks without delivering headstones.
The complaint lists seven incidents:
- Dolly Heining bought a memorial in May 2012 worth $2,412. After numerous attempts to Lichty, she was told weather was hindering the process.
- Leora Burnsworth received a bill for $135 to inscribe her husband’s death date in his stone. Her check, which was endorsed by Fred Lichty, was cashed April 12. So far, no date has been added to the memorial.
- Dayton and Mildred Lohr bought a memorial worth $2,410 in October, with a down payment of $1,005. There is no memorial on their site.
- Gwen Slifco bought and paid in full a memorial in August 2012 worth $1,158. No memorial has been established as of yet.
- Barnard Klink bought, in full, a $3,000 memorial in April and it is still not installed.
- Orlin and Carol Barron bought two memorials in May - $1,535 and $810, respectively. No memorial has been established on the site.
- Richard and Bonnie Lowery bought a $2,250 memorial in July, and still no memorial is on the site.
Somerset District Attorney’s Office detectives spoke with Fred Lichty regarding the complaints. At the start, excuses were made but he later admitted that money was owed to the quarry and no memorials could be purchased.
At the time of the inquiry, there were several observed blank memorials. However, Lichty said arrangements for several customers were made so they could pick their memorials.
Slifco said she had a stone installed on her husband’s grave but it wasn’t the ordered stone she wanted. Rather, she had to choose a stone he had in stock. She said people don’t get what they order but what Lichty gives them. Slifco said her goal is to see the business’ action stopped.
Heining reported her stone was installed as well. She noticed a stone located at the site of her husband’s grave while traveling with her sister. The women, she said, were shocked. However, it doesn’t make up for the aggravation she’s had to deal with for the past year.
Heining said she was embarrassed not to have something for her husband; something that showed respect to him.
Roger Lichty also faced a private civil complaint in District Judge Ken Johnson’s court that Somerset resident Betty J. Beggs made. In her complaint, she bought a memorial stone for her brother Willis Kisner, which was never installed. The matter was settled in early August.
The pair will be in a Confluence court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 31.
Meyersdale residents Roger Paul Lichty, 61, and Fred Eugene Lichty, 66, own Cook & Lintz Memorials and were charged after the Somerset County District Attorney’s office filed a complaint, accusing the pair of cashing thousands of dollars’ worth of checks without delivering headstones.
The complaint lists seven incidents:
- Dolly Heining bought a memorial in May 2012 worth $2,412. After numerous attempts to Lichty, she was told weather was hindering the process.
- Leora Burnsworth received a bill for $135 to inscribe her husband’s death date in his stone. Her check, which was endorsed by Fred Lichty, was cashed April 12. So far, no date has been added to the memorial.
- Dayton and Mildred Lohr bought a memorial worth $2,410 in October, with a down payment of $1,005. There is no memorial on their site.
- Gwen Slifco bought and paid in full a memorial in August 2012 worth $1,158. No memorial has been established as of yet.
- Barnard Klink bought, in full, a $3,000 memorial in April and it is still not installed.
- Orlin and Carol Barron bought two memorials in May - $1,535 and $810, respectively. No memorial has been established on the site.
- Richard and Bonnie Lowery bought a $2,250 memorial in July, and still no memorial is on the site.
Somerset District Attorney’s Office detectives spoke with Fred Lichty regarding the complaints. At the start, excuses were made but he later admitted that money was owed to the quarry and no memorials could be purchased.
At the time of the inquiry, there were several observed blank memorials. However, Lichty said arrangements for several customers were made so they could pick their memorials.
Slifco said she had a stone installed on her husband’s grave but it wasn’t the ordered stone she wanted. Rather, she had to choose a stone he had in stock. She said people don’t get what they order but what Lichty gives them. Slifco said her goal is to see the business’ action stopped.
Heining reported her stone was installed as well. She noticed a stone located at the site of her husband’s grave while traveling with her sister. The women, she said, were shocked. However, it doesn’t make up for the aggravation she’s had to deal with for the past year.
Heining said she was embarrassed not to have something for her husband; something that showed respect to him.
Roger Lichty also faced a private civil complaint in District Judge Ken Johnson’s court that Somerset resident Betty J. Beggs made. In her complaint, she bought a memorial stone for her brother Willis Kisner, which was never installed. The matter was settled in early August.
The pair will be in a Confluence court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 31.