Milwaukee funeral home fraud, women accused of multiple felonies
MILWAUKEE - Two women who run a Milwaukee funeral home are accused of fraud, forging the signatures of grieving families and stealing money meant to help with funeral costs.
Sonya Bland and Tajai Turner of Grace Memorial Funeral & Cremation Services are each charged with multiple felonies for alleged crimes that date back to 2020.
Investigators said they started looking into the situation in August 2022 after a man got an email that said he signed up for a $1,500 grant for his son's cremation – when he never did.
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The man contacted the Wisconsin Funeral and Cemetery Aids Program, a state agency. An internal audit service sent letters to people who used the Milwaukee funeral home, and records showed they also applied for grants.
Investigators said Bland and Turner applied for those grants, which are meant to help low-income families cover funeral costs, but they pocketed the money and never told the families about it.
Sonya Bland and Tajai Turner
Investigators said they quickly realized the families never knew, and the funeral home had pocketed more than $10,000. Authorities said invoices were falsified and signatures were forged.
FOX6 News stopped by Grace Memorial Funeral & Cremation Services' two locations Friday. Nobody answered.
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The fraud accusations, investigators said, are the nail in the coffin for two women in a case authorities said won't die.
Bland and Turner are scheduled to make their initial court appearances in January.