People who have relatives buried in Laurel’s Sunset Gardens Cemetery received an update on the facility Saturday, and also initially contributed more than $1,000 for grounds maintenance through the fall.
The company which owned Sunset Gardens — along with three other Mississippi cemeteries — is the target of an investigation by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Division. The AG’s office maintains the company — Rogers Memorial Management Co. — closed the offices of the cemeteries and took assets, including money paid for pre-paid funeral services, purchases of vaults and headstones, and the vaults themselves, which have been located in Alabama, according to a source inside the investigation.
The AG’s office is asking that the Prentiss County, Miss., Chancery Clerk’s Office be named special overseer of four cemeteries, including Sunset Gardens, and that the cemeteries be placed into receivership, so they can be sold possibly later this year and operations return to normal.
The source said James Rogers of Alabama and Don Middleton of South Carolina — principles of Rogers Memorial Management Co. — are the individual targets of the investigation. It is believed that criminal charges will be filed.
The other Mississippi cemeteries are Prentiss Memorial Gardens, 735 Hwy. 145 S., Baldwyn; Liberty Memorial Park, Hwy. 30, Booneville; and Pinecrest Memorial Park, Hwy. 9 S., Calhoun City. An Alabama cemetery is also involved.
Approximately 100 people met Saturday morning at Sunset Gardens to hear the update given by Gene Fairchild, the chairman of the Sunset Gardens Upkeep committee, which is working to have the cemetery mowed and maintained through the summer and fall.
“The sooner it gets into receivership, the sooner we will have new owners,” Fairchild said. “The vaults have been found over in Alabama. (The AG’s Consumer Protection Division) is working very hard to get them returned back to us. She said there is a slim possibility that the vaults will be returned to Laurel.”
Those attending the meeting voted to pay $10 a month for mowing and maintenance. Also, those with relatives buried in the mausoleum will pay $10 a month to fix the roof on the building.
People who own plots at the cemetery can send their $10 a month — or no more than $60 for the remainder of the year — to Sunset Gardens Upkeep, P.O. Box 2504, Laurel, MS 39442.
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