Testimony heard in alleged funeral home scam

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | Tuesday, May 1, 2007 10:58 PM PDT ∞

RIVERSIDE -- Three elderly men told a judge Tuesday how the former owner of Valley Funeral Home in downtown Murrieta took their money in advance for burial, but never actually provided them with a policy or a refund.

After listening to their testimony and that of a state insurance investigator, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Douglas Weathers found there was enough evidence for Lee Ann Wyskiver to stand trial on six felony counts.

Wyskiver, 55, is charged with one count each of grand theft and embezzling from an elder for each of the three alleged victims. She has pleaded not guilty to all six counts.

The California Department of Insurance alleges Wyskiver sold prepaid burial plans to senior citizens, including residents of nursing homes, then kept the premiums and left them without funeral coverage.

Prepaid burial insurance is a specialized form of life insurance or annuity used to fund the predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation or burial.

Varney Bancroft, who turns 88 on Thursday, is the oldest of the named victims. He testified at the Hall of Justice in Riverside on Tuesday that in August 2003, he went to see Wyskiver about such a prepaid policy.

"We'd been thinking about funeral arrangements for the sake of our children," Bancroft told the judge.

Seeing an advertisement for Valley Funeral Home, he decided to go there.

Deputy District Attorney Lisa Loyola showed Bancroft two contracts signed that day -- one for him and one for his wife, Lorene, now 77.

Combined for the two contracts, Bancroft said he wrote a check to Wyskiver for $8,406.

Bancroft said he heard in 2005 that Valley Funeral Home had "changed hands" and he started then to ask about what happened to the policy. He said he never received the policy nor any refund from Wyskiver.

The funeral home went bankrupt in 2004 and a new owner took over in December 2005, renaming the business.

Grey Stone, 80, of Murrieta, gave similar testimony to Bancroft's, telling the judge he paid Wyskiver $1,783 each for two policies for him and his wife, Alice, in February 2003.

Guy Johnson, 81, also from Murrieta, said he went to Valley Funeral Home in June 2001.

"My first wife was literally on her deathbed," Johnson testified.

So, he paid $2,084 to Wyskiver for funeral and cremation arrangements for Lorene and for himself, he said. His wife died nine days later.

Wyskiver's attorney, Paresh Makan, asked Johnson whether Valley Funeral Home fulfilled its end of the contract regarding Lorene Johnson after she died. Johnson said the business did and he had no issues with that.

However, Johnson did testify that he never received a policy or refund from Wyskiver for his contract and also tried to contact her after seeing a newspaper account that the funeral home had a new owner.

"I called and called and never got an answer," Johnson said.

State insurance Investigator Michael Rodriguez testified that he contacted the new owner of the funeral home in February 2006, and had him check the records for prepaid policies for the three alleged victims.

"He said he could not find a policy issued for any of them," the investigator said.

Rodriguez said he also spoke with two representatives of Homesteaders Life Company, the insurance company on which Wyskiver was supposedly writing the policies. They, too, could not find a record of any such transaction or contract, he told the judge.

Makan, Wyskiver's attorney, told the judge it is the defense's contention that all the victims signed binding contracts and that when the need arose for a contract to be fulfilled -- when Lorene Johnson died -- Wyskiver provided the services promised.

He added that the need has not yet arisen for any of the others.

Loyola, the prosecutor, told the judge that "all the victims in this case don't have policies issued. End of story."

The judge agreed and ordered Wyskiver to stand trial as charged.

-- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.