Guilty plea in funeral home case
Former funeral home director Brian M. Barnett will be charged with a number of criminal offenses, including concealment of a corpse and grand larceny, as well as violations of state health law, in the ongoing investigation into human remains found at the Ehle-barnett Funeral Home.
JOHNSTOWN – A former funeral home director pleaded guilty to improperly burying or mishandling the remains of 17 people, Fulton County District Attorney Michael Poulin said.
Brian M. Barnett pleaded guilty Wednesday in Fulton County Court to the top count in the indictment of third-degree grand larceny as well as concealment of a human corpse and scheme to defraud, all felonies, plus three misdemeanor counts of improper burial of a body and operating a funeral home without a license or registration, both under the state Public Health law, Poulin said.
In exchange, Barnett, 35, will be sentenced to 21⁄3 to 7 years in prison.
“He pleaded guilty to the one count, but then in the allocution, said that he had improperly buried or handled 17 individual victims,” said Poulin. An allocution is a formal statement made to the court by the defendant who has been found guilty prior to being sentenced. It is part of the criminal procedure in some jurisdictions.
Poulin said under the terms of the plea deal, Barnett will be banned from owning and operating a funeral home in New York, since his license will be permanently revoked.
The plea agreement is similar to the one shelved over the summer after complaints that the investigation into Barnett’s alleged misdeeds was not over and that relatives of the dead were
kept in the dark about the proposed deal.
Back then, Acting District Attorney Amanda Nellis denied police were told to halt their probe, said she was in the process of briefing relatives of the dead about the plea bargain talks, and that the range of prison time in the proposed plea deal was “the max that (Barnett) could receive” based on sentencing guidelines for the offenses Barnett was facing.
She lost November’s election for district attorney to Poulin. Asked if loved ones of the victims were on board with the deal, Poulin said Wednesday that his office met with them on several occasions.
“I can’t sit here and tell you they’re happy with the outcome, they understand the current state of the law in New York,” he said. “The current law, the way it’s set up, this is the maximum sentence he could receive, so in that respect, I think they felt more included,” he said. “They seem to be relieved that it’s over and they can move on with their lives.”
On Wednesday, Barnett’s attorney, Ted Hartman,
confirmed the plea deal.
He declined further comment, saying he would have more to say after his client is sentenced. A hearing is set for June 26.
Police have said Barnett, then the owner of Ehlebarnett Funeral Home, had lost his license to practice as a funeral home director back in November 2021, and that the Ehle-barnett Funeral Home was not a licensed funeral business.
Police in January 2022 launched a probe into the business after receiving a complaint from relatives of a dead person who said they hadn’t heard back about a cremation service. Authorities raided the funeral home at 15 N. William St., where they found three sets of human remains and the ashes of 18 people in the garage, officials said.
More than two dozen families have raised questions about how their relatives’ remains were handled. Police believe Barnett may have run into financial difficulties running the funeral parlor. He lost his license to operate the business last year, but it appears he continued to handle bodies.
Operating a funeral home without a license is a violation of state health department regulations.