Perry County coroner, funeral home director pleads not guilty in elderly theft case

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Perry County Coroner and Perryville funeral home director Herbert Miller on Friday pleaded not guilty to felony charges of financial exploitation of the elderly and theft.

Miller is accused of taking more than $80,000 from a 94-year-old woman over whom he had power of attorney.

An arraignment Friday morning in Perry County Circuit Court in front of Cape Girardeau County Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis was waived by Miller, and a trial date was set for May 9.

According to a probable-cause affidavit filed by Gregrey Martin, an investigator for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the woman appointed Miller as her durable power of attorney in January 2004.

She entered a Perryville nursing home in August 2008 after being diagnosed with dementia.

During a preliminary hearing in February, Andrea Southard, billing manager for the nursing home, said that in late April or early May, a billing issue arose, and she contacted Medicaid to find out whether anyone had applied for assistance on the woman's behalf.

After learning no application had been submitted, Southard asked Miller to bring the woman's application, bank statements and other records so she could review the information and submit the application, she testified.

Southard said she noticed several checks payable to cash, beginning in 2009, along with a few checks to Miller Family Funeral Home "in excessive amounts that were also red flags."

Southard sent the application to Medicaid, a caseworker saw the checks and wanted to know where the money was going.

Miller said the money had gone for graham crackers, fish-fry tickets, clothing, charitable donations and other items, Southard testified.

Southard said Miller also told her the woman gave him cash "for helping her over the past 10 years."

Martin said Miller admitted writing the checks for cash but claimed half were for the woman's personal use, and half were for services he provided.

Miller also characterized more than $22,000 in checks to his funeral home as "gifts" the woman meant for him to use for operating expenses, Martin testified.

Based on information from the woman's doctor and a conversation with her in July, Martin said he did not believe she was competent to authorize such gifts.

Miller has served as Perry County coroner since 1995.

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Pertinent address:

Perryville, MO