Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Providence con jailed for involvement in Florida cremation fraud

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Providence con jailed for involvement in Florida cremation fraud

Written by DeadGirl
Thursday, 29 July 2004
Providence con jailed for involvement in Florida cremation fraud July 29, 2004 Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A Providence con artist who implicated police officers and an organized crime figure in a 1980 corruption scandal that shook the Providence Police Department has been jailed in Florida for allegedly running fraudulent cremation services. Robert A. Colannino, 58, was running a cremation service in Daytona Beach, Fla., that was recently shut down after families complained of getting the wrong ashes, The Providence Journal reported Thursday. About 25 years ago, Colannino was a convicted felon and informant for the Providence Police Department. He accused police officers, including big fundraisers for former Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr., of running a bad-check scheme with him. The officers were acquitted, but Colannino was later convicted in an insurance fraud and auto theft scam in 1989. Most recently, the con man has been living in Florida under the name Mark Monti. He opened All State Cremation in April 2003. Now, Colannino is in Volusia County Branch Jail in Florida, as the Volusia County State Attorney's Office deals with complaints from families who used his cremation service. The investigation started months ago, when the family of one woman discovered her certification of cremation had been forged. They realized they'd been given someone else's ashes, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. The remains of their loved one were later found in a box on the floor at All-State, the newspaper reported. Colannino allowed bodies to pile up at a local crematory because he couldn't afford to have them cremated, according to an affidavit. Some families now want their loved ones' ashes unearthed or pulled from internment, so they can be sure the right ashes are inside. The State Attorney's Office filed charges of fraud and passing a worthless check against Colannino in April. He was arrested in May, but failed to show up to face the charges in Volusia County court. He was caught again earlier this month, but went to a hospital, instead of jail, for complaints of chest pains. He is now being held in jail on $50,000 bail. Colannino's old identity and record from Rhode Island were discovered when Florida authorities checked his fingerprints. He told a Florida judge on Monday that he took on the name of Monti because he was in the Federal Witness Protection Program. He attempted to explain away his extensive criminal record from Rhode Island by saying the charges were made up so he could do "undercover work" against organized crime. The state prosecutor told the Daytona Beach News-Journal she was skeptical. The judge denied a request for bond reduction.

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Henry David Thoreau, 1854