Fake Funeral, Bogus Death Certificates in $1.2 Million Mortuary Insurance Scam

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) A former Los Angeles mortuary employee has been convicted of defrauding insurers out of $1.2 million by faking several deaths, and staging at least one phony funeral.

Prosecutors say 67-year-old Jean Crump and three accomplices faked death certificates, took out bogus insurance policies, and in at least one case purchased a burial plot, buried an empty casket and staged a funeral.

The U.S. attorney's office says that when insurers investigated, Crump and her cohorts exhumed the coffin, filled it with a mannequin and cow parts and cremated it to try to cover their tracks.

Authorities said Monday that Crump was found guilty of two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud.

Her accomplices have pleaded guilty in the scam. Crump is to be sentenced Nov. 29.

The mortuary is since defunct.