2 Accused of Unlicensed Funeral Practices

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is seeking to revoke a funeral director’s license and stop her unlicensed brother from handling funeral arrangements.

The department’s action stems from complaints about how the man and woman handled arrangements including the burial of a breast cancer victim at a Southland cemetery.

Named in the department’s complaints are Bridget D. Marshall and her brother, Terrence Marshall, both of Chicago, who are accused of wrongdoing in the woman’s internment at Mount Hope Cemetery, 115th Street and Fairfield Avenue, Chicago.

The agency was acting on complaints made in the aftermath of the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal this summer by the family of 43-year-old Jacqueline Britton, who succumbed to breast cancer, the department said Friday.

Britton’s mother consulted the Unique Funeral Home on Chicago’s West Side for the burial, and Terrence Marshall was sent to the woman’s home to arrange services, though he is not licensed to do so.

He unlawfully sold the woman burial services, including a $350 limousine ride to the cemetery, the agency said. His supervisor and sister allowed him to conduct the business without a license, it said.

Apart from the state’s complaint, Britton’s mother in August also told a Chicago television station her daughter’s burial place was not disclosed to the family.

She told WLS-TV (Channel 7) that when she arrived at the cemetery in June for her daughter’s burial the casket was left on the side of a road within the property. She further told the station that no burial plot had been dug and after a brief service there she remained in the dark on her daughter’s final resting place.

Her complaint was among dozens that emerged after workers at Alsip’s Burr Oak Cemetery were charged with digging up graves and reselling the plots for cash.

Source: Southtown Star