Funeral exec's hearing postponed

State board cites criminal charges against home’s manager

The state's funeral board agreed Wednesday to postpone a complaint hearing scheduled for July against a former Jacksonville funeral home employee who is facing corpse-abuse charges.

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The state Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors accepted a requested stay in the case against Edward Snow, the former manager of day-to-day operations at Arkansas Funeral Care, because he is facing 13 criminal counts of corpse abuse. The funeral home was shut down in January over allegations that it violated state regulations regarding the storage of bodies.

Snow, 63, of Cabot was arrested June 15. He has entered an innocent plea, a clerk at Jacksonville District Court said.

The board delayed Snow's hearing until the criminal case is completed.

Arkansas Funeral Care co-owners Leroy Wood, 86, of Jacksonville -- who served as funeral director -- and his son, Rod Wood, 61, of Heber Springs were arrested June 16 on 13 counts of abuse of a corpse. Both men entered innocent pleas in a court appearance last week.

The board was scheduled to hear seven complaints against Snow during its July 9 meeting, but board counsel Nina Carter told members that Snow's attorney "has advised him that he'll have to invoke his right under the Fifth Amendment to not provide any testimony at the hearing due to the pending criminal charges."

The board and witnesses have a right to question those called to appear at hearings, Carter said, but neither would be able to do so if Snow invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.

"It's going to be difficult for us to do anything if he's going to plead the Fifth and not answer any of our questions," John Wilkerson told fellow board members. "He has the right to due process. It's unfair to him, with the criminal charges pending, to have this hearing go forward."

"The bottom line is ... I don't think we have any concerns he's out there practicing," Carter told the board about Snow.

Snow was the focus of seven of the eight complaints that were scheduled for the July hearing. Former Arkansas Funeral Care employee Glenda Beard was the focus of two complaints, including one contained in a complaint against Snow.

The board on Wednesday dismissed a complaint against Beard that she didn't know how to embalm, because she is a licensed embalmer who has passed state and national tests.

Because the other complaint against Beard involves Snow as well, that complaint was tabled until more facts could be gathered.

During the Wednesday morning teleconference meeting, the board also granted a funeral establishment license to A Natural State Funeral Service, which plans to operate out of the space once occupied by Arkansas Funeral Care.

A Natural State Funeral Service, which lists its incorporators and organizers as Mark Perry and Joseph Robinson, has no connection to Arkansas Funeral Care.

The facility was inspected by board inspector Leslie Stokes on June 2. The board granted the license on a 7-0 vote.

"We feel like we are going to have a staff that will be able to bring some dignity back to this establishment," Robinson told the board. "The owners are committed to be very hands-on."

On Jan. 21, officials with the state Crime Laboratory and the Pulaski County coroner's office picked up 31 bodies and 22 cremated remains from Arkansas Funeral Care after an investigation revealed it violated state regulations regarding the storage of bodies. That investigation resulted in the suspension of its license.

The funeral board's investigator reported finding a cooler "filled beyond capacity with bodies," including bodies "stacked on top of each other" and "seven bodies outside of the cooler that had not been embalmed."

According to arrest affidavits, 13 of the 31 recovered bodies are believed to have been subjected to abuse. Bodies were "in various stages of decomposition" and some showed signs of "extreme decomposition," the affidavits state.

"Bodies were stacked on top of one another, on pallets, on the washer and dryer and on every available space they could find," the affidavits read. "Coffee cans with deodorizer were placed next to bodies to help with the odor in the room."

Metro on 06/25/2015

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