Funeral home owners Tim and Becky King entered guilty pleas Tuesday for committing felony insurance fraud and theft by unlawful taking. If accepted, Tim King could begin serving a 60-day sentence in August.
King was also charged in January with passing cold checks in McCracken County.
The couple own Filbeck, Cann, and King Funeral Home in Benton, and were initially accused of falsifying burial policies. Last September, a Marshall County grand jury returned indictments on two felony counts of fraudulent insurance acts over $500, one felony count of theft by unlawful taking or disposition all others, $10,000 or more but under $1 million and one felony count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.
The Kentucky Department of Insurance and Kentucky State Police searched the funeral home last summer after a referral from Investors Heritage Insurance alleging that the Kings had collected money for prepaid burial policies without forwarding payments to secure those services. By law, the money was to remain in trusts until customers needed access to funds for funeral services.
Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship said the Kings forged signatures in order to sell insurance policies and collect premiums totaling about $362,000.
The case was moved to Graves County after Marshall County Circuit Judge Jamie Jameson recused himself due to former employment in a division affiliated with KDI.
On Tuesday, the couple entered guilty pleas to fraud charges. Blankenship said the couple agreed to a five-year diversion on two counts of fraudulent insurance acts $500 or less; two counts of fraudulent insurance acts over $500; one count of theft by unlawful taking/disposition all others between $500-$10,000; and one count of criminal possession of forged instrument.
Graves County Circuit Judge Tim Starks will preside over sentencing on Aug. 14. If Starks accepts the agreement, King will immediately begin serving 60-days incarceration. The original agreement called for a 30-day sentence for each King.
“At the last minute yesterday, Tim King agreed he would serve [Becky’s] 30-days so that their teenage daughter would not go without a parent for a month,” Blankenship said. “He said he was more culpable and that she was basically doing what he told her to do. She will have to do 30-days of home incarceration.”
The felonies could be expunged at the end of the diversion if the Kings are not convicted of additional crimes. Blankenship said it’s not an uncommon agreement for non-violent first offenders when restitution is being made.
“We do that typically for people who have never been in trouble before, and if everybody is [receiving restitution],” Blankenship said “That’s the big thing in this case. The fact that they’ve paid $300,000 back — and they’re going to come up with the other $62,000 at sentencing — was a big factor.”
The Kings will also have to do community service in Marshall County. Blankenship said the remaining restitution will be required at the August sentencing.
Tim King was also charged in January after writing checks to Golfmart in Paducah for $740.81 and $1,216.19, without sufficient funds to cover those checks.