Bucks funeral home director pleads guilty to stealing nearly $300K from clients

A Hulmeville funeral home owner admitted in court that he stole $296,853 from dozens of clients who prepaid for their burials and then forged their death certificates though they were still alive, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office.

David Wayne Faust, 53, owner of the Faust Funeral Home, also pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegally collecting $100,000 in Social Security disability benefits.

Faust faces a maximum prison term of 71 years when he is sentenced, said Marc J. Furber, deputy district attorney. Faust was in jail Wednesday on $750,000 bail.

Faust pleaded guilty to theft by deception, forgery, tampering with public records, and other crimes, including misdemeanor charges of identity theft, according to the District Attorney's Office.

"I'll say in general, first of all, this case is of such a magnitude we don't see very often," Furber said Wednesday. "And although it didn't involve physical violence, I don't think you can discount the impact it's had on people and their families, some of whom have already suffered from the impact of having their loved ones buried."

From April 1999 to July 2017, Faust stole nearly $300,000 from 54 people who paid in advance for funeral services, Furber said. Those prepayment amounts ranged from $400 to $14,460.

Bank records seized through search warrants and reviewed by law enforcement showed two of the funeral home's bank accounts were overdrawn and a third account contained a small amount of money, authorities said. The third account was also frozen because Faust had filed for bankruptcy.

Furber said Faust used the money "to fund his own purchases — his own lifestyle."

The phone for Faust Funeral Home went unanswered Wednesday.

Law enforcement was tipped off to suspicious activity at the funeral home in the summer of 2016, when a registrar in Bucks County noticed signatures for some doctors were inconsistent on some death certificates she received, Furber said.

"He forged not only the signatures," Furber said of Faust, "but the entire death certificate."

In one instance, Furber forged a death certificate for a woman who was "alive and well," authorities said. The death certificate said the woman, who lives in Hulmeville, had died of small-cell cancer. Faust took more than $8,700 from her account in 2003, the District Attorney's Office said.

Soon after the registrar noticed the discrepancies on the death certificates in 2016,  Furber said, Bucks County authorities along with the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General launched an investigation.

During an interview, Faust told investigators he was collecting Social Security disability benefits, Furber said.

When the investigators asked Faust how he was collecting disability benefits while he worked at the funeral home, Furber said, Faust told investigators: "You guys did your homework."

Furber said the state will seek to have Faust pay restitution in excess of $297,000 for the 54 victims — most of whom are over 60 — and restitution of about $100,000 for the stolen Social Security benefits.

Faust still has an active funeral director's license, according to state records, but Furber said the license will likely be in jeopardy.

The Pennsylvania Department of State does not comment on whether any licensee is under investigation, said spokeswoman Wanda Murren. Regulatory officials "investigate every complaint we are aware of," she said.