POWAY -- An A&E Network reality series scheduled to premiere Monday night called "Family Plots" is about life and death at a family-run mortuary in Poway.

What the producers apparently didn't know is that one of its stars is working without a proper state license and has some skeletons in his closet.

Poway-Bernardo Mortuary manager Richard Sadler, 57, of Poway has continuously held a state funeral director's license since 1999, but it expired in January and the state licensing bureau is not renewing it until outstanding citations are resolved.

To work as the manager of a mortuary, Sadler is required to hold a valid funeral directors license, said Rick Lopes, spokesman for the Department of Consumer Affairs.

In January 2003, Sadler was cited for operating a separate business called San Diego Mortuary Services that was not licensed, and using the Poway-Bernardo Mortuary license number in advertisements for that other business, Lopes said.

Sadler was also cited for unprofessional conduct because of his failure to cooperate with the investigation. The fines are $2,002.

"The renewal is being held until he pays the fines," Lopes said Thursday.

Sadler said that he was not aware of the problem, but Lopes said Sadler was notified and given the chance to appeal, but did not.

"I have no knowledge of any of that," Sadler said Thursday. "I swear to God. Why didn't they send me a letter about that?"

Aside from his current problems, Sadler has a history of legal problems that date back more than two decades. He has been convicted of two felonies: grand theft in 1986 and embezzlement in 1995 that sent him to Pelican Bay State Prison with a sentence of 16 months.

When asked Thursday about those convictions, he said he learned his lesson in prison and has turned his life around.

"I had a lot of time to evaluate, you know, my life and what I did wrong and what I wanted it to be," Sadler said. He said that today he lives quietly in Poway and spends his time working at a business he loves, attending church and being active in community activities.

"Over the years I have done a lot of things, I mean, some of it's good, some of it's bad," Sadler said. "I'm not proud of it, but I've contributed a lot. I've given my pound of flesh."

A&E spokesman Michael Feeney said Thursday that the network was not aware of Sadler's criminal history but declined to comment further.

The seven-episode series follows the Wissmiller family -- father Chuck and adult daughters Shonna, Melissa and Emily Wissmiller -- who work at the funeral home on Poway Road.

Sadler is identified as "the boss" on the series' first episode.

Hybrid Films, the production company that filmed the show, held an open audition and filmed two finalists. A&E picked the Wissmillers for the series because they were "utterly compelling," according to a network statement in December.

Sadler said the embezzlement and fraud convictions stemmed from the fact that he was scrambling for money to pay for medical treatments for his son, who suffered for years with a kidney disease that was not covered by insurance. According to state records, Sadler's son died last year at the age of 24. Sadler said his son died of kidney failure.

The first conviction Sadler faced was in 1986, when he was given five years' probation for grand theft related to an Alameda mortuary where he was president, according to court documents. After the probation period ended and he had paid $30,000 in restitution, he petitioned the court to have the felony reclassified as a misdemeanor, a request that was granted, documents show.

The 1995 conviction for embezzlement stemmed from the sale of an airplane in Concord, said U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, who was the prosecuting attorney at the time.

Sadler sold an airplane to a business partner for $100,000 but the plane was never produced. Scott said from what he remembers of the case, the plane did not exist at all.

Sadler said Thursday that he eventually repaid the $100,000 in addition to serving time in prison.

"I just kept paying and paying," he said Thursday.

In 1992, Sadler again faced legal and financial troubles.

To much hoopla, according to newspaper accounts at the time, Sadler and some partners opened the Central California Horseman's Complex in Lodi, attempting to purchase property and a building for $2.3 million, though the partners were never able to make payments on the lease-purchase agreement.

According to Lodi police reports, Sadler took investments of up to $20,000 from a dozen people in exchange for stock certificates and a seat on the company's board of directors. Less than two months later, the business was abruptly shuttered and Sadler moved out during the night without notifying shareholders.

The incidents resulted in civil suits, but no criminal prosecution. The police report noted that Sadler had sold stock certificates without the proper state license, and collateral he put up for one shareholder's loan was property Sadler did not actually own.

According to newspaper accounts at the time, the district attorney said the county did not have the funds to prosecute white collar crime, so a criminal case was not pursued.

On Thursday, Sadler said he leads a different, and better, life in Poway. Sadler had lost his funeral director's license in 1995 because of his embezzlement conviction. He persuaded state officials to reinstate it in 1999.

Sadler is a member of the Poway Chamber of Commerce and has been a member of the Poway Valley Riders Association for two years.

Association Vice President Nancy Kirchhofer said Sadler has been a valued member of the organization.

"And he was a major sponsor of the Poway Valley Riders event last year," she noted.

Asked whether he feels that he has made restitution to those he may have hurt in the past, Sadler said he has "made peace with all those people."

"You can't discount someone's feelings. … I think the facts refute it," he said. "If I've done anything to hurt anybody, I'm mortally sorry."

Contact staff writer Adrienne A. Aguirre at (760) 740-3526 or aaguirre@nctimes.com.