DETROIT – Michigan regulators have filed a cease and desist order against a Detroit cemetery and its owner.
In a new complaint, the state said that in 2022 Trinity Cemetery moved a man’s body after mistakenly burying him on top of the gravesite of an unrelated woman.
The state said the man’s body was moved without a city permit, which is required whenever bodies are dug up and moved. The state intends to fine Trinity Cemetery owner Sam Tocco $5,000.
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Last month, the state of Michigan issued Sam Tocco a different cease and desist order. That order was because he never applied for a permit to operate the cemetery.
When Local 4 stopped by Trinity Cemetery on Feb. 9, 2024, cemetery workers were in the process of burying several bodies. That is legal, pending a final court decision.
Sam Tocco was the former manager of Gethsemane Cemetery in Detroit. Dozens of families said, and alleged in a class action lawsuit, that their loved ones’ bodies or headstones were moved or went missing at the city-owned cemetery.
Gethsemane Cemetery was managed by Tocco for several years. A trial is scheduled for mid-June.
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