BELLEFONTE — A former Centre County funeral director was sentenced in Centre County Court on Monday after pleading guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of abuse of a corpse.
Garrett A. Singer, 33, former owner of Singer-Kader-Neff Funeral Home in Howard, was sentenced by Judge Brian Marshall to 30 days to 23 ½ months of probation, with the 30-day period to be served on house arrest.
According to the criminal complaint, a deputy coroner from Huntingdon County told troopers that when he transported remains to the funeral home, he observed that the preparation room in the facility had an odor like decomposition. It was also stated that a body on a table appeared to have been left alone for a long time.
An investigator from the state Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs as well as state troopers went to the funeral home on Dec. 18 and found the body of Joan Donley.
Donley, of Pennsylvania Furnace, was 92 at the time of her death.
Singer, who owned the funeral home since 2023, said Donley died on Nov. 11. He said there were no coolers on the property and was unsure if Donley’s body had ever been placed in a cooler.
Regulations require that once a funeral home is notified of a death, the body must be embalmed, refrigerated, cremated, buried or donated to science within 24 hours.
A funeral home is not permitted to keep a body for more than 10 days without receiving authorization from the state Board of Funeral Directors.
According to the criminal complaint, Singer told the investigator that he should have notified the state board after holding the body more than 10 days.
The deceased’s daughter told investigators that Donley died at home under hospice care, and Singer’s facility was selected for cremation services. Singer arrived at the residence on the day of death to remove Donley’s body and assume care.
Two weeks later, after multiple attempts to contact Singer at the funeral home to obtain the death certificate and her mother’s ashes, Singer told her that the death certificate was still being processed and that her mother’s body was still at the funeral home.
On Dec. 18, Singer told the daughter that her mother’s body was now with the Centre County Coroner’s office.
In a lawsuit filed against Singer in March, the daughter claimed her mother’s body could only be identified through dental records and a hip replacement identification number. Singer is being sued for negligence, interference with a corpse and breach of contract.
As part of his sentencing on Monday, Singer was ordered to pay more than $4,000 in restitution, which included $3,351 to the daughter of the deceased for a headstone and two death certificates; and to other victims, $338 for five death certificates and failure to post an obituary in a Clinton County newspaper, $160 for eight death certificates, and $210 to Shank Cemetery.
Additionally, Singer must undergo a mental health evaluation and comply with treatment recommendations. He was also ordered to relinquish his funeral director license, not work in the capacity as a funeral director, or otherwise work in any capacity within the mortuary field, unless properly licensed.
“Family spoke at the sentencing about the terrible depth and reach of the defendant’s choice to neglect their loved one,” Centre County Assistant District Attorney Mark Metzger said in a statement. “His failure to do his duty as a funeral director was felt as a betrayal of the trust they had placed in him as a funeral director to handle her remains with dignity and respect. It was a betrayal felt beyond the immediate family, but throughout the community as a whole.
“The sentence imposed by the court ensures that the defendant will not be able to work as a funeral director, and will therefore not be positioned to repeat his choices or the harm that followed,” Metzger continued.
He said that, in one powerful moment in the courtroom, Donley’s daughter wished the defendant the best in his efforts to care for his mental health and grow beyond this case.
His funeral director’s license was suspended in March and later revoked in September. He may not apply for reinstatement as a funeral director for a minimum of five years.
The funeral home was shut down and later reopened under new ownership as a branch location of Wetzler Funeral Service and Victorian Crematory in August.
