Pomona Cemetery Accused of Mixing, Dumping Cremation Ashes

The state attorney general’s office is looking into allegations that workers at a Pomona cemetery mixed together the ashes of cremated corpses in a garbage can and dumped them in a vacant lot that is now a construction site.

The allegations, made by three former employees who lost their jobs at Pomona Valley Memorial Park earlier this year, have been investigated by the state Cemetery Board, which finished its report earlier this week. The attorney general’s office received the report Friday and will issue its response next week, spokeswoman Christie Mullen said.

John Gill, executive director of the Cemetery Board, would not comment specifically on the report’s findings, but said the board uncovered sufficient evidence to warrant consideration by the attorney general.

“You wouldn’t send it on to your attorney if you didn’t have something,” Gill said.

The general manager of the cemetery, John Lemons, did not return phone calls Friday.

Inquiry Started

In a press conference Friday, attorney Thomas E. Frankovich told reporters that ashes may have been dumped illegally at the construction site across the street from the cemetery for more than 20 years. Frankovich is representing four families who had relatives cremated at Pomona Valley Memorial Park, and he was joined at the press conference by four former cemetery employees.

The investigation began last month when former cemetery workers Jeff Uwnauich, Joseph Hatchett and Manuel Estrada charged that the dumping of ashes was a standard practice at the cemetery. Uwnauich and Estrada were laid off by the cemetery in April and Hatchett was fired in March.

Another former employee, Anthony Tamburro, who worked at the cemetery from 1961 until his retirement in 1974, said at the press conference that the alleged practices were commonplace when he worked there. He supervised cremations for three of those years.

In about 90% of the cremations performed at the cemetery, all the ashes and crushed bones would not fit in a single urn, Uwnauich told reporters. The excess remains were placed in a 20-gallon trash can, which was taken periodically to the lot across the street from the cemetery and its contents dumped in a hole, he alleged.

Mixing together human ashes in such a manner has been a misdemeanor in California since 1984. The Cemetery Board may also impose administrative penalties, including suspension or revocation of a cemetery’s license, if human remains have been improperly handled, Gill said.

Three Bodies

In addition to the dumping of ashes, Uwnauich and Hatchett alleged that they once saw workers cram three bodies into a crypt designed for two. Silver and gold dental filings extracted from the ashes reportedly were sometimes pocketed by employees or kept by the cemetery.

Frankovich said he plans to ask the attorney general to order an exhumation of the lot. The land was purchased last year by Upland-based Lewis Homes Management Corp. and is being graded for the construction of 90 homes.

Frankovich, who has offered a $1,000 reward for information about illegal cremations at the Pomona cemetery, said none of the families he represents know for certain that their relatives’ ashes were dumped in the lot.

Assumes Worst

However, Alice Alexandre, whose parents and 18-year-old son were cremated at the cemetery, said the former employees’ allegations have caused her to assume the worst.

“I am looking out in that field, knowing my son’s out there,” she said. “Part of my son and my parents is out there. Something’s got to be done. . . . This is the worst kind of betrayal.”