3 Of 4 Buildings Where Embattled Embalmer Operated Funeral Homes Now On The Real Estate Ma

With embattled funeral home director Philip Pietras awaiting his next court date in September, facing accusations of swindling more than $80,000 from his clients to finance vacations and casino trips, three of his four business locations have been offered for sale on the real estate market, with one already being listed as "under contract."

Pietras, 51, was arrested by Connecticut State Police April 6 on charges of first-degree larceny. According to a heavily-redacted affidavit supporting his arrest, eight clients had opened pre-payment funeral and burial accounts with one of Pietras' four funeral homes in Hartford and Tolland counties, with the purpose of opening a trust account via an escrow agent. The accounts accrue interest over time.

Pietras owns four funeral service companies: Bassinger & Dowd Funeral Home in East Windsor, Burke-Fortin Funeral Home in the Rockville section of Vernon, Tolland Memorial Funeral Home and Coventry-Pietras Funeral Home. The businesses were recently evicted from the sites, and the property owners have placed them up for sale.

A service which provides assistance to individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities noticed a discrepancy involving a client payment to Pietras, in which a check was submitted to the funeral home and cleared by the bank, but was never deposited into the trust account. Investigation revealed "eight clients had substantial differences between the amount of money invested, and what was present in their accounts, to include several clients who Pietras Funeral Home never opened accounts for," according to the affidavit.

In total, $81,300 was missing from clients' accounts, ranging from $4,500 to $15,700, according to the affidavit. Those numbers are likely to increase, as police in those jurisdictions have indicated there are more than 80 open investigations.

A considerable amount of personal expenditures were found across several of Pietras' accounts, including destinations typically associated with gambling, including Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Az., Clearwater, Fla. and Springfield, Mass. A number of charges for restaurant and shopping ventures across Connecticut were also revealed, according to the affidavit.

Pietras did not appear at a July 1 hearing before the Connecticut Board of Examiners of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, and that board unanimously voted to revoke his embalmer's license. By state statute, a funeral home can remain open as long as a licensed embalmer is actively taking part in the business.

Shortly after Pietras' license was revoked, the businesses were evicted, and three of the four properties were listed on the market by Mark Riesbeck of Berkshire-Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties.

• Tolland Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Merrow Road, Tolland. 3,185 square feet, built in 1997, listed July 13 at $499,900. Currently tagged as "under contract."
• Coventry-Pietras Funeral Home, 2665 Boston Turnpike, Coventry. 4,449 square feet, built in 1910, listed July 29 at $699,900.
• Burke-Fortin Funeral Home, 76 Prospect Street, Vernon. 9,623 square feet, built in 1892, listed Aug. 6 at $549,900.

Only the Bassinger & Dowd Funeral Home at 37 Gardner Street in East Windsor, built in 1950 and encompassing 5,390 square feet, is not currently listed for sale.