Kevin Miles
A man charged with bilking families on pre-pay funerals is in custody in Catoosa County.
Police at Cherokee, N.C., had taken Kevin Miles, 41, into custody, but he had to be extradited.
Catoosa County Sheriff Gary R. Sisk earlier said a man selling pre-need policies out of Wilson Funeral Home may have bilked numerous individuals out of thousands of dollars.
The sheriff said Miles, an insurance agent, is charged with felony theft by deception and financial exploitation of an elderly person.
He said, "We have four confirmed victims and approximately 28 more victims we are still investigating at this time with an estimated value over $75,000.00.”
One woman said she pay Miles $5,412 for a pre-pay funeral.
She said she was told to leave the payee blank. She later found that Miles had put his name in the payee part of the check.
The sheriff said Miles was an independent contractor with Atlantic Coast Insurance Company working out of the Wilson Funeral Home to sell funeral prearrangements through Atlantic Coast Life Insurance based in Charleston, S.C. from June 2017 to July 2019.
Wilson Funeral Home has chapels in Fort Oglethorpe, Ringgold, Chickamauga and LaFayette.
Sheriff Sisk said, "Miles would receive payment in full for these policies but would keep that money for his own use and send the insurance company a policy for monthly payments with his address. Evidence shows he possibly made some payments but stopped and the accounts are delinquent."
Wilson Funeral Home officials said they have been cooperating with the probe.