Ten months after being selected by Vicksburg native and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to oversee financially troubled Green Acres Memorial Park, Harry Sharp has been appointed by Hosemann to a new state board charged with aiding people swindled on pre-need funeral services. 

The Pre-Need Loss Recovery Association was established in the Cemetery Law that went into effect July 1. The law tightened regulations on cemeteries and funeral homes selling pre-need services, and went after a number of cemeteries across the state, including Green Acres, that were found to be unable to deliver funeral services, coffins, plots and perpetual care plans sold in advance.

The law also created a “loss guarantee fund,” which the new board will manage as its chief responsibility. For every pre-need funeral contract sold after July 1, $10 has been deposited into the loss guarantee fund, and from it claims will be paid to those who are sold worthless pre-need contracts in the future. There’s about $10,000 in the fund now, said Sharp, and it’s growing daily.

Unfortunately, the more than 700 people who were fleeced of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Green Acres’ former owner Mike Graham and Associates will not be eligible to benefit from the loss guarantee fund, said Sharp, as it protects only those who purchased pre-need services after July 1.

The Green Acres case has been handed over to the District Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office for possible criminal charges.

Meanwhile, Hosemann’s office is still trying to recoup the approximately $373,000 missing from Green Acres’ pre-need trust fund, but Sharp said he’s not overly optimistic about the prospect of recovering the money.

“It’s doubtful,” he said. “It’s a sad situation.”

Sharp was appointed to a six-year term on the recovery association’s board of directors — the longest among the five members. He said he was “deeply honored” to have been selected for the job.

“I felt it was a real calling for me, to step in and try to help these folks however I can,” Sharp said. “Going forward, this board is going to ensure that the funds for pre-need funeral services are properly handled and that the situation that happened at Green Acres will never happen again.” 

Along with overseeing the loss guarantee fund and making recommendations on claims against it to Hosemann’s office, Sharp said the board will handle complaints and information requests from people who believe they may have been cheated on a pre-need contract or simply want more information about the laws.

Before moving to Vicksburg from Miami in the mid-1980s, Sharp owned and operated the largest independent cemetery organization in Florida. He sold the business in 1996 with approximately 30 years of  experience in the cemetery industry and is a former member of the Florida Cemetery, Funeral & Cremation Association as well as a former president of the Southern Cemetery, Crematory and Funeral Association. 

Sharp owns and operates The Duff Green Mansion bed and breakfast, and is also chairman of the Vicksburg Main Street Program. Along with him, those appointed by Hosemann to the Pre-Need Loss Recovery Association are Gary Kieffner Jr. of Olive Branch, Dr. Roger Lowery of Tupelo, Mary Paige of Jackson and Roscoe Sigler II of Lucedale. The board will meet quarterly, and had its first meeting this month.

Before the Cemetery Law took effect, Mississippi’s funeral homes and cemeteries selling pre-need services were only marginally regulated through each county’s chancery clerk’s office. The need for tighter regulations came after Hosemann’s office was forced to put at least seven cemeteries other than Green Acres into state-ordered receivership when they were found to have inadequate trust fund balances. Among other things, the new law requires all funeral homes and cemeteries selling pre-need merchandise and services place 85 percent of pre-sales receipts into a trust fund, of which the balance must be reported to Hosemann’s office annually.

“That takes away some incentive from the swindlers, because they only have 15 percent of the purchase available to them,” said Sharp.

The law also requires anyone selling pre-need services to be licensed through the secretary of state’s office as a pre-need provider and restricts provider licenses to cemeteries and funeral homes. 

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com