An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

A New Jersey couple who purchased cemetery properties owned by a business in Indianapolis have been charged with fraud. Robert E. Nelms and Debora Johnson have been charged with plundering the $24 million trust fund of the purchased company. The money was supposed to be set aside to take care of burial plots and cemetery grounds far into the future, but within three years the couple purchasers had withdrawn all of the money in the fund.

The Indiana company that was purchased provided management services for six cemeteries in the state, all of which are feared to be insolvent at this time. The old owners in Indianapolis have filed suit to collect $8 million still owed in the sale in order to replace at least some of the stolen funds. The problems with the new owners were reported by a former employee, then employed by the suspects.

Johnson and Nelms, now Memory Gardens' president and chief executive, face accusations of using the trust fund to finance the $13.5 million down payment on the company and to pay nearly $900,000 for a house and land in Greenwood. This is living proof that Bad Business does not stop at the grave.