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Part-time cop on trial for stealing from funeral home

Written by DeadGirl
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
January 10, 2007 By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF WORCESTER— Former reserve police officer John P. Stevens stole more than $20,000 from the Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home in Webster, where he worked, but should be found not guilty of setting fire to the funeral parlor in an attempt at covering up the thefts, his lawyer told a Worcester Superior Court jury this morning. Mr. Stevens, 28, of Thompson, Conn., is on trial on larceny, forgery, uttering and arson charges stemming from the theft of about $21,000 from the funeral home during a three-month period in 2004 and a Nov. 12, 2004, fire that damaged the second floor of the business located on School Street in Webster. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Stevens stole and forged checks totaling about $21,000 from his former employer and deposited them in his bank account. They further allege that he started an early-morning fire in a second-floor closet at the funeral parlor in an effort to destroy financial records that would have served as evidence of the thefts. In his opening statement to the jury today, defense lawyer Louis P. Aloise said his client - a former reserve police officer in Webster, civilian dispatcher for Connecticut and Massachusetts state police and one-time candidate for Webster selectman - admitted to investigators that he stole the money. “There is no dispute that my client, in August, September and early October of 2004, stole the money,” Mr. Aloise told the jurors. He said financial records from the Webster Five Cents Savings Bank, where Mr. Stevens did business, would clearly show that the stolen checks were deposited in his account. But Mr. Aloise asked the jury to separate the arson charge from the rest of the case. He noted that Mr. Stevens was not charged with the fire until June of 2005 and asked the jurors to consider why. Mr. Aloise said he expected the prosecution would be unable to prove that the Nov. 12, 2004, fire was intentionally set, let alone set by Mr. Stevens. The defense lawyer said Mr. Stevens confessed to the thefts during a four-hour interrogation by state and local police on Nov. 16, 2004, but that investigators continued their questioning to try to get him to admit setting the fire, as well. Assistant District Attorney Richard L. Greco said he expected to prove Mr. Stevens guilty of all of the charges against him beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Greco said the fire was reported at 6:22 a.m. While Mr. Stevens, who had a key to the funeral home, told police he was sleeping at home at that time, an eyewitness reported seeing him walking in the area of Shaw-Majercik shortly before 5 a.m. on the day of the fire, the prosecutor said. Testimony in the case was scheduled to resume tomorrow. http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/FRONTPAGENEWS/70110004

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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