HILO >> The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is seeking $200,000 in fines from Memorial Mortuary for allegedly selling pre-need funeral plans without a license for more than two decades. State wants to fine mortuary
for alleged unlicensed sales
By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comThe state agency filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Circuit Court in Hilo seeking the fines and an injunction that would ban future sales.
Separately, Deputy Attorney General Rick Damerville said the filing of a civil action does not prevent the additional filing of criminal charges against officers of the mortuary. A criminal investigation is continuing, he said.
Memorial came under public scrutiny when a daylong search was conducted at its premises Feb. 20 by state law enforcement officers.
On March 20, Memorial General Manager Robert Diego, his wife, mortuary owner Momi Diego, and their daughter, Bobby Jean Diego, were arrested, held for 24 hours and then released without charges.
The state investigation began after Diego's former girlfriend Lucille Mossman told officials about numerous alleged acts of wrongdoing by Diego and the mortuary.
She also reported that the remains of at least two people supposedly buried in caskets in the 1980s were not found in caskets when their graves were opened in the 1990s.
This week's suit deals only with the status of the mortuary's license to sell pre-need packages.
The complaint details 16 cases of pre-need sales from 1981 to January of this year. It does not say customers were denied funerals, only that the mortuary had no license to sell funeral packages in advance.
Following the attorney general's raid in February, Robert Diego said the mortuary is licensed for pre-need sales and pointed to a document on an office wall.
Neither the Diego family nor their attorney was available for comment yesterday.
The Diegos have commented previously that their business has been hurt by the bad publicity, adding to doubt whether the company could survive $200,000 in fines.
Money is supposed to be deposited in a trust fund to assure that pre-need buyers receive the services they paid for.
In April, Deputy Attorney General Christopher Young said without explanation that the trust fund has a "negative balance."
County of Hawaii
