Pittsburgh-area funeral home director accused of pet cremation fraud agrees to plead guilty
A former funeral home director accused of pet cremation fraud has reached an agreement to plead guilty to all charges.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office tells KDKA-TV that in court, Vereb indicated he will plead guilty to all charges, with no agreement on what his sentence would be.
Patrick Vereb, of Vereb Funeral Homes and Eternity Pet Memorial, was charged with eight counts of deceptive or fraudulent business practices and other felonies after he was accused of defrauding thousands of pet owners over a number of years.
A whistleblower alleged in 2025 that Vereb took payments to give people's pets dignified burials or cremations, but then would dump the bodies and give back ashes belonging to something else.
According to investigators, Vereb promised nearly 6,500 pets a proper burial, but the bodies were dumped in landfills or left in leaking garbage bags.
Funeral home director named in class-action lawsuit
In May 2025, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Vereb, and accused him of throwing thousands of pets in the trash after he received payments from the owners to cremate them.
"These families were deceived. ... They care for their animals greatly, as you can see from the photographs that are here today," attorney Rob Peirce said at the time.
According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, from 2021 to 2024, Vereb took more than $600,000 in payments from pet owners for cremation services, but ultimately dumped the bodies in a landfill. He then allegedly gave the owners the ashes of other animals.
"What we know to date is that there are approximately 6,500 pets who were improperly either cremated or disposed of. And even worse, multiple families in western Pennsylvania have had their hearts broken," Peirce said.
Pittsburgh pet owners learn if they were victims of fraud
Not long after charges had been filed against Vereb, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office began contacting alleged victims to let them know if their pets had been involved.
One of those owners, Kristin Lakin, had a plastic bag that was supposed to contain what remained of her Yorkie, Logano, but she was unsure.
"Logano was dropped off on Tuesday morning, and then the news broke on Thursday, and that's when everything went silent," she told KDKA-TV. "Seeing people were not being charged on the last day to come pick up their pets after I was just charged $300 the day before, and I don't know if I truly got my dog is gut-wrenching."
Another pet owner, Rosemary Sabol, was woken up by heartbreaking news.
"I got my confirmation email that my Ringo, my baby, was part of this, and to be honest, it's been a really hard day," she said at the time.
Vereb tells a pet parent it was the fault of the investigators
Text messages from a cell phone that belonged to Vereb showed him blaming investigators for the situation.
"The AG office is instantly sending out the same form letter to everyone. They are inciting this riot to make it more sensational so someone can get more fame with a nationwide outcome," the text read.
At the time KDKA-TV was alerted to the text messages, we reached out to his attorney to confirm if that was his stance on the case. The office told KDKA-TV that they do not comment on active cases.
