Couple arrested in funeral home thefts

A couple who managed a funeral home and cemetery in Elberton swindled more than $20,000 from the business owner over the past four years, sheriff's officials say.

Elbert County sheriff's deputies arrested Devin Jonathan Richert, 39, and his wife, Whitney Jade Richert, 35, on 18 counts of felony theft for allegedly selling burial plots at Forest Hills Memorial Park and keeping the money for themselves.

"People would come in and buy a burial plot, and (the Richerts would) deposit the money into their own personal business account," said Elbert County sheriff's Capt. Chris Cornell. "The families thought that everything was fine. They signed a contract and wrote a check, but nothing ever went to the home office."

The couple managed the cemetery and Hicks Funeral Home since 2005 for Southern Funeral Associates of Peachtree City, which owns three other funeral homes in Georgia and one in South Carolina.

Greg Rollings, the owner Southern Funeral Associates, filed a complaint with the Elbert County Sheriff's Office earlier this month after an audit revealed that there were more people buried in the cemetery than c