Tim and Becky King, local owners and operators of Filbeck-Cann and King Funeral Home in Benton, have entered not guilty pleas in Graves County Circuit Court.
The Kings appeared on Monday in the 52nd Judicial Circuit in Mayfield for arraignment; while accused in separate indictments, the Kings appeared together in court, having retained attorneys Mark Bryant and Emily Roark of Bryant Law Firm in Paducah.
No trial date was set in the case Monday, though the Kings have been scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. Feb. 5 in Graves County Circuit Court for a status hearing. Future status hearings will be held in Mayfield before Circuit Judge Tim Starks, who was appointed in late October to preside over the case, after Marshall County Circuit Judge Jamie Jameson recused himself from proceedings. Jameson was previously employed by the Kentucky Department of Insurance, the same agency – albeit a different division – that opened the investigation on the Kings.
Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Jacob Ford, standing in Monday for Commonwealth Attorney Mark Blankenship, said in court that as of Monday no additional charges had been filed against the Kings, but that the investigation remains open and ongoing.
The Kings stand accused of fraud, forgery and theft charges after a Marshall County grand jury on Sept. 12 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 Kings also face two misdemeanor charges of fraudulent insurance acts $500 or less.
KDI and Kentucky State Police conducted a search on the Kings’ property and funeral home in early May in response to a referral from Investors Heritage Insurance in February alleging that the Kings had collected money for pre-need burial policies and did not forward the payments and applications to secure those policies. Investigators believe the activities took place at varying points from 2007 through 2016 and totaled more than $311,000.
Blankenship said in a previous interview that most of the pre-need policies affected had been repaid as of September.
The funeral home continued to operate as of Monday.