Unexpected plot twist: Cemetery double-sells burial space; both owners say they feel deceived
By Christina Lucarotti-Stubler
Record Searchlight
Earle and Gloria Tope thought they were ready to die. That was before the ownership of their Redding Memorial Park burial plot came into question.
And before they knew that one of the two burial spaces they bought in February 2003 had already been sold to an Anderson man at the time the Topes purchased it. "I've never heard of such goings on," said Gloria Tope, who lives with her husband in Redding. "We're 82 years old, and we're going to be needing this pretty soon."
The situation is so frustrating, it brings Gloria Tope to tears.
Jimmy "Mac" McCall, who bought the plot first, isn't crying, but he is equally aggravated.
It's like "selling two people the same house and they both love it," McCall said. "That's where (my wife and I) thought we'd want to spend eternity."
McCall, 55, set up a monthly payment plan to buy the plot in September 2002 -- about five months before the Topes paid cash for both their spaces.
According to the contract, McCall paid $60.86 a month, totaling $4,629.84, for the spot that the Topes also purchased.
But McCall said this is the second time he has had trouble with Redding Memorial Park. His first contract with the cemetery, for a different plot, was written up in May 1999. At that time, McCall paid $36.96 a month for what was supposed to be a total of $2,307.60.
He said he agreed to the 2002 contract after his original burial space was changed without his consent. At this point, McCall said he doesn't know how much money he has given the cemetery.
"This has happened to me since 1999, one thing after another. They can't all be mistakes," McCall said.
McCall discovered that the plot he chose in 2002 had been sold twice when, after completing his payment plan, he went to the cemetery to pick up the deed for the space.
He and a cemetery employee took a walk to the burial site and found the Topes' family headstone in the spot he planned to be buried.
The Topes wanted to ensure that their death would not be a burden to their only child, Earle Tope Jr., so they made all of their arrangements and put their headstone in place.
Gloria Tope even designed the family's picturesque marker, which shows mountains and a stream. She traveled several times to Chico to have it custom-made.
"When you do something about death, it's so final," Gloria Tope said.
Relocating either McCall or the Topes might not be such a big deal if it weren't for them both being so attached to the spot.
"We spent a lot of time picking out that particular space," Earle Tope said.
The grassy burial spot is near a row of trees that provide a blanket of afternoon shade. The trees were a selling point for both the Topes and McCall.
More than one person can be buried in a plot. And McCall planned for him and his now-estranged wife to be laid to rest there, while the Topes have designated their spaces for themselves and their son.
The Topes, who hold the deed for the property, learned of the situation when a representative from Redding Memorial Park visited their home at the end of April and asked the couple to sign paperwork that would allow the cemetery to relocate their burial plots, or at least remove the headstone.
"She brought the papers to tear my parents' gravestone apart," said Earle Tope Jr., who was not present during the meeting.
He estimates his parents spent about $15,000 on the side-by-side plots and headstone.
A representative for the corporation that owns Redding Memorial Park said the mistake was made through an "administrative error" more than a year ago, but declined to explain further what had happened.
"Certainly, nothing like this is done intentionally," said Greg Bolton, a spokesman for Houston-based Service Corp. International, which owns about 350 cemeteries in North America.
Bolton said he was not aware of any other burial plots being sold twice at Redding Memorial Park and that the cemetery was "working to get it resolved in the best possible way."
After the Topes found out their site had been sold to someone else, they filed a formal complaint against Redding Memorial Park through the California Department of Consumer Affairs Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.
Bureau spokesman Kevin Flanagan said the complaint would be investigated and, depending on the findings, action may be taken against the cemetery.
"It's really way too early to talk about what the penalties are. We'd like to finish getting the facts first," Flanagan said. If the plot was sold twice purely by accident, the cemetery might not be reprimanded, he said.
McCall already is unhappy. He said he feels duped.
"We're talking about property. I don't care how big or small it is," McCall said. "To me, (the cemetery has) broken the law. They have stolen property and sold it."
Both the Topes and McCall are at a loss as to how the situation might be resolved.
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