Receiver appointed for troubled cemetery

A local attorney with nearly 60 years of experience has been appointed receiver of the troubled Fairview Memorial Park cemetery in Berlin Township, south of Delaware.

The decision to appoint A.C. Strip, of the Strip, Hoppers, Leithart, McGrath and Terlecky law firm in Columbus, came Friday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

Strip is expected to take an oath early next week to make the arrangement official. He has handled about 1,000 receiverships in his career, including three cemeteries.

“He’s going to get this cemetery back on track,” said Christopher Betts, a Delaware County assistant prosecutor.

Fairview Memorial Park, at 5035 Columbus Pike, has fallen into serious neglect after its former owners, Theodore Martin, 53, and Arminda Martin, 46, of Ravenna, were sent to federal prison on tax-evasion convictions. The husband and wife also were indicted locally this year on charges of running a criminal enterprise, accused of selling dozens of customers headstones, vaults, bronze plaques and other services worth thousands of dollars that were never delivered.

As receiver, Strip will be responsible for ensuring Fairview Memorial Park’s day-to-day operations and maintenance take place until the cases against the Martins are resolved or there is another hearing for a permanent appointment, Betts said.

In the meantime, volunteers with loved ones buried at the cemetery have been mowing, pruning and weeding it to keep its condition from worsening.

The complaint for dissolution is pending in civil court, and a jury trial for the Martins’ criminal charges is scheduled for Aug. 8, according to court records.

The Martins also own Grandview Memorial Park cemetery in northeastern Ohio’s Portage County, where they are facing similar charges.