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Funeral Home Owner Pleads Guilty To Forging Death Records

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who owned a Virginia funeral home has pleaded guilty to forging death certificates.

News outlets report 33-year-old Shaun Reid pleaded guilty this month to the charges in Maryland, where he's been banned from performing funeral service work since 2014. He was sentenced to two years' probation.

He was accused of forging a death certificate and providing ashes to a family months before the family's relative was actually cremated.

His Dumfries, Virginia, business was forced to close when the town accused it of embalming bodies without proper permits. Reid owes $24,000 in fines in Washington, D.C., where he's accused of working without proper credentials.

The wrongfully provided cremains have District and Virginia clients questioning if they received the right ashes. Reid blamed the mix ups on the crematories.

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