Attorney general "very happy" with agreement for guilty plea in Pittsburgh pets cremains case

Patrick Vereb, the former owner and director of the Vereb Funeral Home in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood neighborhood, is set to plead guilty to 10 charges next week, including a first-degree felony for theft. 

"I'm very happy that he's chosen to plead guilty," said Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, whose office led the prosecution of the former Eternity Pet Memorials owner. 

But many of Vereb's thousands of victims don't feel justice is being done because he isn't going to trial. Vereb is accused of taking grieving families' money to perform cremations for their deceased pets, but instead throwing the pets' bodies into landfills, and returning unknown ashes to the owners. 

Sunday says the victims should feel satisfied that this plea removes the possibility that Vereb could be found not guilty by a jury. 

"He's walking in and he's pleading guilty as if he was found guilty at trial," he said. "It puts the victims and the prosecution in a position where we get to walk into that sentencing and make all of our arguments for the sentence we want to see in this case." 

The most serious of Vereb's charges carries the potential for jail time. 

"At the sentencing phase, it's going to be up to the court," Sunday said. 

One of the big concerns for the Allegheny County judge at Vereb's upcoming sentencing in January is whether there will be enough space for all the victims who want to be heard. 

"We've collected information from well over 6,000 different victims in this case," Sunday said. 

Judge Jaime Hickton said Thursday in court that she was considering asking for a larger courtroom for the sentencing date. She asked the attorney general's office how they wanted to make sure victims could share the impact of Vereb's actions. 

"I have no doubt of the feelings that victims have in this case," Sunday said. "With so many, it'll be up to the court to determine how to logistically handle the presentation of so many different victim statements." 

The attorney general's office has set up a website where Vereb's victims can submit a statement. Vereb's plea date is set for Oct. 22. He's expected to be sentenced in January.