Funeral home scam affected dozens

IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) - Marti Schrauben sold his stake in a funeral home in order to buy a country club and party store, then scammed the funeral home's clients and insurance companies to pay for his new businesses, investigators say in court documents.

Schrauben, charged with 27 felonies including embezzlement and racketeering , faces decades in prison if convicted. It's alleged he took nearly $500,000.

About 80 funerals were affected, and the current owner said all the accounts will be honored.

The documents reveal how the alleged scam worked:

In 2005, he sold his stake in the Schrauben-Lehman Funeral Homes in Ionia and Portland, then bought the Portland Country Club and the Portland Party Store.

In 2008, he went back to the funeral home to work as an employee.

Beginning at that time, investigators say, he took the names of customers who pre-paid for funerals, then made up fake death certificates to collect the insurance money.

That money ended up in an account that runs the golf course and party store businesses.

The plan fell apart when a customer died a year after the insurance policy was cashed out. That's when the funeral home owners learned of the fake death certificates and called police.