Cow Buried in Fake Funeral

Jean Crump, 67, was found guilty on Friday of two federal counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. Prosecutors said Crump then tried to defraud insurance companies by preparing bogus death certificates for at least two fictitious people, then going so far as to buy a burial plot and bury a casket in a phony funeral for one of them.

Crump once worked at the now defunct Simpson and McGee Mortuary in Lynwood. Prosecutors said Crump and three accomplices had taken out insurance policies on the supposed dead people, asking the companies to pay them $1.2 million in life insurance claims, but when two insurance companies began to investigate the claims, Crump and her accomplices exhumed the casket. They then allegedly filled it with a mannequin and cow parts, and had the casket cremated to try to cover their tracks.

Prosecutors said Crump and her accomplices also filed false documents with Los Angeles County stating that the remains were cremated and scattered at sea, even though no corpse existed.

Crump allegedly offered $50,000 to a medical doctor to create medical records supporting the fake death certificate.

Crump is scheduled to be sentenced November 29, and faces a maximum sentence of 90 years behind bars. Her three accomplices have already pleaded guilty to their roles in the scam.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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