Former funeral director sentenced for false services claims

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – A former West Virginia funeral director who filed false insurance claims for services for clients who were still alive has been sentenced to a year and a month in federal prison.

Sixty-one-year-old Joel L. McGuire of Alderson was sentenced Tuesday for wire fraud in federal court in Bluefield.

McGuire was the director of Broyles-McGuire Funeral Home in Union in Monroe County. Prosecutors say he sold insurance policies to pay for clients’ funerals upon their death. In 2012, McGuire submitted an insurance claim that he provided a funeral that cost more than $3,300 even though the client was still alive.

Prosecutors say the insurer reimbursed McGuire for the claim. He also admitted receiving more than $50,000 for other false claims for clients who had not died.

McGuire was ordered to pay full restitution.