Ok, wtf is up with funeral directors making news this week? And I am not talking about obituaries. Here, another caretaker of the dead is in trouble over sinister activity.
Lorain County, Ohio
A Lorain County funeral director will spend more than eight years in prison for possession and distributing child pornography, federal law
enforcement officials announced.
Matthew B. Humphrey, 38, of Vermilion , was sentenced to 98 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver.
Humphrey, formerly of Dombrowski-Humphrey-Riddle Funeral Home, Lorain, was indicted in March on one count of receiving and distributing
child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. He pleaded guilty in June.
According to an affidavit used by the FBI to obtain a search warrant for Humphrey’s Vermilion home and the funeral home in Lorain, an FBI
agent in San Francisco first made contact with the person later determined to be the 38-year-old Humphrey in February 2010 using a peer-to-peer computer program.
The peer-to-peer program allows users to download files from each other’s computers.
The San Francisco agent noted 3,286 images in the shared files on Humphrey’s computer and downloaded 198 images and two videos that
contained graphic content of infants, toddlers and other children engaged in sexual conduct.
The agent traced the computer back to the funeral home’s Internet connection, the affidavit said.
Later that month, another FBI agent from the agency’s Buffalo office, downloaded 68 images from the same user’s computer, all of
which contained child pornography, the affidavit said. The computer was again found to be connected to the Internet from the funeral home.
The San Francisco agent made contact with Humphrey, who was using a different username, again in March and discussed gaining access to his
shared files on an Internet chat.
Humphrey asked if the agent was “into kids?” and the agent replied “of course.” Humphrey then asked if he had “any pics to share?”
according to a transcript of the chat that was included in the affidavit.
After Humphrey allowed the agent access to his files, the agent downloaded 48 images of child pornography. The files were traced to
Humphrey’s house.
Mark Riddle, the funeral home’s owner, said no one there had any idea of what Humphrey was doing and as soon as they learned about the
allegations, they asked him to resign.
So, with all the funeral directors hitting the headlines, I decided to do a little research to try and determine the root of the problem. I mean, what the hell is it about the job that brings out such a dark side?
Ok, maybe I can start to understand.
Funny thing, a website dedicated to funeral directors featured an article trying to convince readers that funeral directors, in spite of stereotypes, really aren’t creepy. Ryan Thogmartin, the site’s owner wrote:
I am constantly amazed at how funeral directors are perceived by the public and in our communities. Of course, like most small business owners, funeral directors are held to a certain level of expectations, but for funeral directors that bar seems to stretch just a bit higher. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this, but what bothers me is when people think of funeral directors with a creepiness factor.
He goes on with:
I know other professions have preconceived notions about funeral directors, but why are funeral directors automatically hit with the “creepy”
card and not the compassionate, and caring, card?
Dude, just pick up a freaking newspaper!