Cemetery administrator charged in unused burial plots scam
MELROSE, Mass. (AP) — A cemetery administrator has been accused of selling unused burial plots owned by a Massachusetts city.
Prosecutors say John Hughes offered to sell plots at the Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose at discounted rates. They say he arranged for buyers to pay fake sellers for burial plots they didn't own and then split the profits with the fake sellers.
Prosecutors say Hughes falsely sold 13 burial plots this way at a profit of about $75,000 starting in about 2011. Hughes was appointed administrator in 2007.
Hughes was arraigned Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court on larceny charges. He was released pending his next court date on Jan. 9.
Police Chief Michael Lyle calls the charges against Hughes "extremely disturbing." Hughes' lawyer hasn't commented.
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