LONG BEACH : Owner of Cemetery Tapped Fund, State Says

The owner of Sunnyside Cemetery in Long Beach apparently used money from the graveyard’s endowment fund to pay such personal expenses as leasing a Mercedes, buying food and drinks at local bars and restaurants, and making payments to his former wife, according to state investigators.

Raymond Giunta, executive director of the state Cemetery Board, said last week that officials will seek criminal charges against owner Dean A. Dempsey, and his former wife, Debra Dempsey. Authorities suspect the owner of misappropriating more than $500,000 from the graveyard’s endowment fund, Giunta said.

Dempsey could not be reached for comment, but in a recent interview he denied wrongdoing and said he used the money for cemetery expenses. Debra Dempsey also could not be reached.

The 13-acre graveyard, where some of Long Beach’s most prominent historical figures are buried, has recently fallen into disrepair. Dempsey said he has terminal lung cancer, and has been unable to keep up the grounds. State officials received complaints about the site, and found the endowment fund’s balance, which is supposed to remain intact, had dropped from more than $1 million to about $500,000.

Dempsey, 42, could face felony charges of grand theft, Giunta said.

Among the Cemetery Board’s findings:

* About $54,000 was withdrawn from the endowment fund for a crematory that was never built. An additional $30,000 was taken for an irrigation system that was never installed, Giunta said.

* Dempsey paid his former wife nearly $50,000 in salary during 1993, although she was not working for Sunnyside, Giunta said.

* At least $30,000 from the fund was used to make payments on Dempsey’s leased Mercedes. The car was repossessed last year because of delinquent payments, Giunta said.

* For the past several years, Dempsey used between $2,000 and $2,500 a month from the fund to buy food and drinks at local bars and restaurants he frequents, Giunta said.