Two Richmond-area funeral businesses, operating under the K.L. Jordan name, have lost their state licenses. Fraud charges against their owner have been referred to local commonwealth's attorneys. The licenses of K.L. Jordan Funeral and Cremation Services of Nine Mile Road in Henrico County and of K.L. Jordan Casket and Urn Co. of Broad Street in Richmond were revoked by the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers three days after an Oct. 9 hearing, which Kiplin Lane Jordan, the owner of the two businesses, did not attend.

Jordan's personal license to conduct funeral services was revoked by a consent order filed Oct. 9 that Jordan signed. In the document, he admitted the board's findings and legal conclusions against him. Jordan was initially licensed in May 1986.

Jordan is accused of keeping thousands of dollars in life-insurance overpayments for funerals that should have been refunded and proceeds from a pre-paid funeral contract that a client had canceled, according to board records.

Elizabeth Young, the executive director of the board, said yesterday that the findings against Jordan had been referred to the commonwealth's attorneys in Henrico County and Richmond. She added that the number of revocations of funeral service licenses have picked up in recent years with more than a half dozen since 2004.

Attempts to reach Jordan yesterday at his business locations were unsuccessful. The telephones at both had been temporarily disconnected, according to a recording.

In several instances, the board found that Jordan had violated two sections of state law related to "unprofessional conduct," "misrepresentation" and "fraud" in the conduct of a funeral business.

In one case last December, the board found that Jordan had conducted a funeral service and received overpayments of about $15,140 and $52,461 for funeral expenses from the decedent's life insurance policy. Jordan failed to refund the overpayment to the decedent's family, although it had requested the money in writing and by telephone, the board said.

Similar cases involved overpayments of $4,875 and $3,084, according to the consent order. In other cases outlined by the board, Jordan failed to refund $8,100 from a canceled pre-paid funeral contract and filed a claim form with a pre-paid funeral insurance carrier with the forged signature of a decedent's daughter dated a month before the decedent's death.

The board also found Jordan to be in violation of a consent order filed Oct. 25, 2006, in which the board placed Jordan on probation, requiring him to meet several conditions.

The probation involved two incidents related to his business that, according to the order, were said have occurred without his knowledge and authorization. In one case, an unapproved trainee embalmed two bodies and, in another case, an employee removed an infant from a casket before cremation although the family had paid for cremation in a casket.

Jordan, the board found, had failed to retake the state funeral directors and embalmers exam as required as a term of his probation. He also was required to cease managing his businesses while on probation and to comply with state law and regulations related to funeral directors, conditions that he violated, the board said.

The board also found that Jordan had violated a condition requiring him to cooperate with board investigators while on probation. Jordan failed to respond to an investigator's inquiries and had refused to allow inspectors to routinely inspect his business.


http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/community/richmond.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-17-0136.html