At its February meeting, the Pennsylvania State Board of Funeral Directors disciplined two licensees, elected officers for the year, and announced plans to address regulation changes.
The board suspended the license of funeral director John Guy Kelly for two years, but stayed the suspension in favor of probation, and imposed a $2,500 fine. The board found that Kelly forged the fingerprints of a decedent, who had already been cremated, by scanning his own fingerprints to sell custom keepsakes to the widow. The hearing examiner in the case had recommended a one-year active suspension of Kelly’s license and $1,000 fine, but the board determined that a larger fine and longer period of probation was a more appropriate sanction.
The board also reprimanded funeral director C. Jason Smith for failing to complete his required continuing education during the last license renewal cycle. Smith had taken two courses, but they had not been approved by the board for credit. Smith had previously accepted a $600 fine to resolve the matter. The board rejected that penalty as too harsh, but accepted this settlement of the case, imposing only a reprimand and no fine.
Prosecutors presented their 2024 annual report. The state opened 176 cases against licensees in 2024, up 35 cases from the prior year. Prosecutors attributed much of the increase to violations related to biennial license renewals. Despite the larger caseload, the average time to close a case dropped substantially from 324 days to 209 days in 2024.
The board announced that it hopes to have a revised draft of general updates to its regulations ready for its next meeting and that it intends to revisit changes to the 10-day rule at that meeting.
The board elected officers for 2025. Ken Dupree will serve as chairman, Greg Furlong as vice chair, and Eric Ruggeri as secretary.
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