Funeral home owner accused of forging death certificates, mixing up human remains, theft

DUMFRIES, Va. - A grand jury has indicted a funeral home owner who has worked in D.C, Maryland and Virginia.

Shaun Reid is accused of theft, forging death certificates and mixing up human remains. Investigators say Reid was working as a mortician in Maryland without the required license. The seven-count indictment is out of Prince George's County and Reid is scheduled for trial in January.

FOX 5 first reported on Reid earlier this year after he gave a D.C. family the wrong ashes. Marc Inman learned from Maryland State Police that another family was given his cousin's ashes, a realization that was made because of a cremation identification tag found in the remains. Inman was able to retrieve the correct ashes, but never found out whose remains he had been given by Reid.

Investigators say when Reid got delayed getting a body cremated, he gave out ashes already in his possession.

According to documents obtained by FOX 5, Reid was fined in 2014 for working without a funeral license in Maryland and went on to face the same charge in D.C. where he was fined $8,000 in 2017.

Reid is currently operating in Prince William County, Virginia where he owns Reid Funeral Home in Dumfries.

A spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Health Professions says Reid is not licensed, but is legally able to operate because he is working with a licensed funeral director.

"While Shaun Reid is not a licensee of the Virginia Board of Funeral Director and Embalmers, there are records that show Reid Funeral Home, LLC in Virginia passed initial inspection by the board and a facilities license was issued October 12, 2017," said spokeswoman Diane Powers in an email.

Ross Miller met Reid in August after he lost his wife, Kitty.

"My wife died suddenly," Miller said. "We had been through a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer."

He says after signing a contract with Reid, it was a struggle to get his wife's ashes and took 55 days to receive her death certificate.

"I must have called them, their answering service, at least 50 times," Miller said.

Miller says when Reid gave him his wife's remains, they were in a cardboard box instead of the urn he paid for. Ten weeks later, he says he has given up trying to contact Reid for the urn and has instead filed a complaint with the state.

"It's just been a horrendous experience," he said.

He noted his wife's death certificate was signed by the licensed funeral director working with Reid - someone he says he never met or spoke with.

"How did her signature get on my wife's death certificate?" asked Miller. "I never talked to her, never talked to this woman who is the funeral director. She never returned a single phone call."

Months later, after all he has learned about Reid, he is uncertain about the remains he was given.

"I really don't know if they are her's," he said. "We had been married 36 years and nine months, and he stomped all over it. Instead of mourning, I was dealing with a man who was deceitful."

Reid's attorney told FOX 5 that "because of the ongoing investigation and current pending litigation, we're not in a position to comment."

FOX 5 was unable to reach the funeral director Reid is working with at his location in Dumfries.