Big Island mortuary
calls search illegal

Memorial Mortuary also seeks the return
of records taken during the state's investigation

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> Memorial Mortuary, under investigation for alleged illegal funeral practices, says a state search of its premises was illegal because it was too broad, was based on false statements and relied on an investigator with a possible conflict of interest.

Mortuary attorney Brenda Carreira listed the accusations in a motion in Circuit Court on the Big Island yesterday. The motion, seeking the return of business records, is to be heard by Judge Greg Nakamura on April 25.

State Attorney General's Office investigators were not available for comment.

Last summer, Lucille Mossman, former girlfriend of Memorial manager Robert Diego, made a series of accusations to the attorney general against Diego and the mortuary.

The accusations included statements that caskets were missing from two graves more than a decade after burials in the 1980s. Carreira's motion says Diego's mortuary did not steal caskets at Mauna Kea Memorial Park, and notes that the cemetery, which conducted the burials, was accused of wrongdoing in the 1980s.

Mossman's accusations are detailed in a February affidavit prepared by Robert Ganzagan, an investigator with the attorney general.

Carreira's motion contends that Ganzagan is a relative of Mossman's, although the relationship is not specified. The relationship indicates "possible bias" and should have been disclosed to Judge Sandra Schutte, who approved a search of Memorial in February, the motion says.

One of the two cases of an allegedly missing casket was based on the statement of an anonymous caller to the Gilbert Rosa family, Carreira's motion contends. "No family member attended the disinterment" in which the casket was supposedly missing, the motion says.

Some of the language in the February search warrant is overly broad, the motion says. For example, it refers to "pre-funeral" plans, but fails to specify a period of time when the plans were sold, the motion says.