Cops: Headstone maker stole from grieving families

PENN HILLS, Pa. - Mary and Alvin Bryant, a western Pennsylvania couple, say they were the last of 51 customers who were ripped off by Curtis Eakman, the owner of a business that provides customized cemetery headstones, reports CBS Pittsburgh.

Police say Eakman, 52, pocketed over $92,000 made through his Penn Hill Monuments business without providing the promised services. They say he began stealing the money in April 2012.

 “There’s no words to say how bad you hurt people that are already going through the grieving process,” Mary Bryant, who went to Eakman to get a headstone for her son who died last Nov. 15, told the station. 

“How does somebody sleep at night doing that to somebody?” Alvin Bryant added.

A criminal complaint alleges Eakman cashed $38,000 worth of checks for himself, according to the station.

He also allegedly spent thousands of dollars at local restaurants, nightclubs and jewelry stores. The complaint says Eakman was spending the victims’ money just as fast as he was depositing it.

The Bryant family reportedly had to rely on donations just to pay for half of their son’s tombstone.

Eakman turned himself in to police on Wednesday. He is being held in the Allegheny County jail on $20,000 bond.