Funeral home owner takes plea deal, won't get jail time

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A funeral home owner accused of scamming people in the D.C. area will not see any time behind bars.

Shaun Reid has pleaded guilty to forgery of a private document, and issuing a false document.

In exchange, he will avoid jail, and will instead serve two years of supervised probation that can be converted to unsupervised probation at 18 months.

Reid was criminally indicted in Prince George's County and accused of theft and forging death records after investigators say he intentionally gave two families, one from Maryland and one from D.C., the wrong cremated remains. Reid was not licensed as a funeral director in either location.

After the indictment, FOX 5 learned that Reid was continuing to operate his funeral home in Dumfries, Va. The town eventually forced him to shut down when officials realized he was violating his permit.

Court filings obtained by FOX 5 indicate that Reid was behind on getting the body of a Prince George's County woman cremated in early 2017 and instead gave that woman's family the ashes of a D.C. woman named LaWanda Williams.

FOX 5 first did a story with Williams' cousin in early 2018 when he learned of the mix-up. Both families were able to obtain the correct ashes of their loved one with the help of Maryland State Police.