Depending on how you look at it, the news coming out of these three cities represents either good news for deathcare or a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week of headlines. Good news, perhaps, because these bad deeds are being called out and (hopefully) they won’t be hurting any more innocent families. But bad news, of course, because no one wants this kind of stuff to happen, let alone for the actions of a few eclipse the good work of the many.
And, spoiler alert: a few of these funeral homes are suffering ongoing after-effects from issues that were first identified months or even years ago. The names may seem familiar, but many of the charges, arrests, and pending litigation are new.
Houston
Last November, authorities raided A Community Funeral Home in Houston in search of financial records after families reported cases of identity theft allegedly stemming from the business. Owner Unique Green was detained, but released the same day. Last week, however, Green was arrested and “charged with five felonies including forgery, theft [over $300,000], and tampering with a government record.”
Arrest documents shared details that authorities had gathered over the last eight months to support these charges, including Green’s alleged forgery of documentation to get her funeral director and embalming licenses and misappropriation of insurance proceeds. She is also accused of forging a will of a deceased man whose funeral she handled, naming herself in the document as his “common law spouse” who was receiving his “entire estate” worth nearly $2.2 million “in recognition of her unwavering love, devotion and support.” Forgery is not a new skill for Green, who in 2007 pleaded guilty to “submitting fraudulent claims to FEMA” for hurricane relief funds. Similar charges were filed against Green in 1997.
Following the November 2025 raid, reports of a “Home Depot bucket filled with organs” were shared in local outlets, in addition to the seizure of 48 boxes of cremains that had not been returned to families in a timely manner. The recent charges don’t seem to be related to these findings — but perhaps we shouldn’t rule out future charges related to the treatment of the deceased individuals in Green’s care.
The funeral home has been shuttered since the raid, and Green is being held on $800,000 bond.
New Orleans
A Louisiana funeral home operation has been evicted from its New Orleans location, resulting in more than a dozen “deteriorating” bodies and 12 sets of cremated remains being sent to the local coroner’s office for care and release to families.
The court-ordered civil eviction was served by authorities in coordination with the New Orleans Coroner’s Office and the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors after the revocation of owner Gary Lewis’ license and multiple complaints from families involving delayed services and missing cremains. Some sources have also cited financial issues linked to the eviction and to the issues that led to the complaints.
Lewis has denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges have been reported against him as of this writing. Lewis’ license has since been reinstated after a stay was ordered, and Lewis told a local news outlet that he is working to return remains to families as quickly as possible.
Las Vegas
A third lawsuit has been filed against McDermott’s Funeral & Cremation Services in Las Vegas, which was shut down in August 2025 after its state license was revoked due to unsanitary conditions and delayed cremations.
The family of a 47-year-old man who died on May 6, 2025 filed a lawsuit last week stating that McDermott’s did not complete the “direct” cremation services for more than five weeks after his death, did not include a metal identification tag in the cremains, and told the family that the cremation was in progress multiple times when it was not.
Two earlier suits contain similar allegations. A toddler’s family alleges that the baby was not cremated until four months after her death, and no ID tag was available to verify the identity of the remains. Another family says a loved one was never cremated by the company as promised, but was one of 146 decomposing bodies removed from the facility in August by authorities.
