Convicted couple’s former cemetery in limbo

A northeastern Ohio township likely will take over responsibility for a cemetery whose former owners were sentenced to prison last week for fraud charges involving a cemetery they once owned in Delaware County.

Theodore L. “Ted” Martin, 54, former co-owner of Fairview Memorial Park in Lewis Center, was sentenced on Friday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court to five years in prison for 14 counts of theft, mostly from elderly clients, between 2014 and 2016. His wife, Arminda Martin, 47, will serve 4 years for similar crimes.

In addition to prison, the couple is responsible for more than $183,000 in restitution and must each serve three years of probation after their release.

In Portage County, the couple is accused of leaving a trail of dozens of liens and several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid back taxes during the time they owned Grandview Memorial Park cemetery in Ravenna Township.

Attorney Stephen Collechi, who has been administering the cemetery in receivership since May, said the township likely will take over Grandview Memorial Park after a judge recently dissolved the corporation that owned it.

“I am working with Ravenna Township and the Portage County prosecutor’s office on a transition plan that would result in the transfer of the cemetery assets to Ravenna Township,” he said. “Any transition plan would be subject to the approval of (Portage County Common Pleas) Judge (Laurie) Pittman.”

Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci said a trial for the Martins has been scheduled for Feb. 1 in Portage County Municipal Court dealing with indictments alleging that the couple filed false information with the state to license the cemetery and maintain trust accounts.

“We’re also working on additional indictments for theft, which we anticipate presenting to the grand jury,” he said.

Collechi said there was some interest in buying the cemetery, but two potential buyers were unable to meet the financial obligations required by state regulators.

Assuming no one sweeps in to buy the cemetery, Vigluicci said, Ravenna Township will eventually be able to sell plots there.

Vigluicci said the Martins did not pay income tax, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation or state withholding tax.

In their Delaware County Common Pleas Court sentencing, the couple told the victims and Judge Everett Krueger that they quickly became overwhelmed when they purchased the financially strapped Fairview Memorial Park cemetery in 2008 and inherited its problems.